18 June 2004 12:47
Putin says Russian intelligence warned US of Iraqi plans for terrorist strikes
Russia's President Putin has confirmed that Russia did provide the US with reports that official bodies of
Saddam Husayn's regime were preparing to carrying out acts of terrorism on US territory and on US facilities
abroad, Interfax news agency reported on 18 June. A similar claim has already been made by Russian special service
sources, the agency said.
Speaking at a news conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, where he had attended a Eurasian Economic Community forum, Putin
said that after 9/11 but before the start of the military operation in Iraq, Russian special services "received
information of this sort on more than one occasion and passed it on to their US counterparts". He stressed,
however, that Russia had no information "that the Saddam regime was involved in any acts of terrorism".
US President George Bush had even "personally thanked the head of one of Russia's special services for the
information which he regarded as of great importance", Putin said.
Asked whether the US could therefore be seen to have acted in the interests of necessary defence in Iraq, Interfax
said that Putin replied: "I don't know. That's another subject."
[Interfax news agency] |
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