Moscow: Russia will refuse any demands to expel Iraqi diplomats, Foreign Minister
Igor Ivanov said on March 21.
"If we were to receive such a request, it would have no legal force and we would
react accordingly," Ivanov told reporters in the State Duma, the Lower House of
Parliament.
The United States said on March 20 it was asking governments worldwide to sever
their ties with the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, shut down Iraq's
Embassies and freeze its assets until new authorities are installed in
Baghdad.
Asked whether Russia would back a new regime installed in Baghdad as a result of the
war launched by US-led forces, Ivanov said that "any actions taken in regard to
Iraq, or inside Iraq, be taken on a legal basis".
Russia has said that the current military campaign has no legal basis, and Ivanov
told the Russian Parliament that Moscow, along with other countries opposed to the
invasion, would ask the United Nations to rule on whether the US-led war is
legal.
