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Russia's Ivanov arrives in Iraq on Mideast tour

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) -- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov arrived in Baghdad Monday on the first leg of a trip that will take him to Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Ivanov is the first Russian Foreign Minister to visit Iraq since 1994.

The Iraqi News Agency said that Ivanov carried a letter from President Vladimir Putin to Iraq's President Saddam Hussein on "bilateral relations and current developments in the Arab region."

High on the agenda will be U.N. sanctions imposed on Iraq for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, U.N. inspections of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and the Middle East peace process after seven weeks of violence between Israel and Palestinians.

"Russia and Iraq are conducting an intensive political dialogue, and the visit is part of the dialogue," Ivanov said on arrival, speaking through an interpreter.

"We are concerned about the future of the Middle East peace process and it is important for us to hear Iraq's point of view on this issue," he added.

He was given a red-carpet welcome by Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz and senior officials.

Moscow is in favor of a swift end to U.N. sanctions and Russia was among the first countries to sent humanitarian flights to Baghdad in recent weeks, exploiting a loophole in sanctions which forbid commercial flights.

"We think that it is time to take concrete steps to end the plight of the Iraqi people and lift the economic sanctions on Iraq," Ivanov said.

But he linked lifting sanctions to the resumption of international monitoring of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

U.N. arms inspectors, entrusted with dismantling Iraq's prohibited weapons, have not been allowed into Iraq since they left the country on the eve of U.S. and British bombardment in December 1998.

Baghdad has rejected a U.N. resolution adopted last December which could ease sanctions on Iraq if Baghdad allowed weapons inspectors to return.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



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