Moscow: The United States wants Russia to play a role in Iraq's reconstruction but
has no plans to strike a deal guaranteeing Russian oil contracts in return for
Moscow writing off Baghdad debts, a top US official said on April 16.
"We're not trying to exclude Russia in participating in the reconstruction,"
Alexander Vershbow, the US Ambassador to Moscow, told reporters.
Responding to comments from an unnamed Russian economic official that Moscow might
write off nearly $ 8 billion in debts to Iraq if the United States guarantees Moscow
Iraqi oil contracts and a role in post-war reconstruction, Vershbow said no such
deal was planned.
"I think that these different issues of how to deal with the debt, contracts related
to both reconstruction and oil, shouldn't be linked," he said.
"We don't think that we should get into that kind of trading of different
issues."
A senior Pentagon official earlier suggested that Germany, France and Russia could
help Iraq by writing off its debts.
The comments prompted an angry response from some Moscow officials, although
President Vladimir Putin later said he was willing to look into the
proposal.
