Moscow: As the war clouds thicken over Iraq, speaker of Russia's lower House of
Parliament on March 9 rushed to Baghdad for talks with Saddam, in a move seen as
Moscow's last ditch attempt to avert a Gulf showdown.
Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznyov has been invited by his Iraqi counterpart Hammadi and
is expected to hold talks with Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi leaders, Interfax news
agency reported.
"Naturally, we shall discuss the current extremely sharp situation with Iraq, given
the US plans to shortly launch a strike against that country," it quoted Seleznyov
as saying.
Earlier last month, as part of Moscow's hectic diplomatic efforts to avert a war in
the region, former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov had visited Baghdad as
President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for talks with Saddam Hussein.
Meanwhile, Russia hopes to complete withdrawal of its non-diplomatic staff and
nationals from Iraq by March 10.
So far over about 500 Russian and other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
nationals have been airlifted from Iraq by the Emergency Situations and Disaster
Management Ministry of Russia.
PTI
