| Moscow, March 25, 2003. (RIA Novosti)- Deputy Chairman
of the State Duma Defence Committee Alexei
Arbatov announced at a Moscow press conference that the USA's
allegations that Russia had illegally exported weapons to Iraq were
part of a campaign to pin the blame on someone else for the US military's
failures in the current military operation in that country.
In his opinion the US accusations against the Russian Defence
Ministry's committee for military-technical co-operation were
"completely groundless." Arbatov said: "Nothing
at this level has been delivered to Iraq recently, let alone in
the last few days." At the same time, he acknowledged that
individual pieces of equipment, including infra-red night and
navigation systems, could have been sent to third countries and
then ended up in Iraq. However, Arbatov noted that even in this
case: "it would be naive to assume that these instrument
could stop the American military machine." In the deputy's
opinion, the Americans are unhappy that politically they are losing
this war. Therefore, they have started to try and find someone
to blame, "as this is easier to do psychologically."
See also:
Situation
Around Iraq
|
