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Russia Dismisses US Senate's Oil-For-Food Claims
By Sergei Blagov
CNSNews.com Correspondent
May 19, 2005
Moscow (CNSNews.com) -- Russia has repeated its denial that Russian politicians benefited financially from oil allocations granted to them by former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in return for their support for Baghdad.
The U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, probing corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program, has named members of government bodies, the foreign ministry and several political parties whom it said had received rights to buy Iraqi oil.
The subcommittee's report said a sizable part of Iraqi oil allocations from 1996 to 2003 went to Russian parties or individuals.
"Approximately 30 percent of all of the oil sold under the oil-for-food program was allocated to Russia, which is an oil exporting country," it said.
"The allocations awarded to the Russian Presidential Council were part of a larger scheme to influence the policy of the Russian government towards Iraq and U.N. sanctions," said the subcommittee, chaired by Republican Norm Coleman.
"Massive allocations were also granted to Russian politicians, the pro-Kremlin Unity Party, and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to name but a few," the report added.
Among those named as oil voucher recipients were Alexander Voloshin, the former Kremlin administration chief, and ultra-nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, whose name has previously been linked to the scandal.
An earlier report for the CIA by Charles Duelfer, the top U.S. arms inspector in Iraq, said Zhirinovsky had received millions barrels of Iraqi oil.
Voloshin, a chief of staff for former president Boris Yeltsin and for his successor, President Vladimir Putin until October 2003, told journalists in Moscow Wednesday he had never been involved in discussions about Iraqi oil contracts and he had never visited the country.
Zhirinovsky, a lawmaker who is also a deputy head of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, also repeated his earlier denials.
He insisted he did not get anything from Iraq -- "not a cent and not a barrel."
The charges had been concocted by the West with the aim of discrediting Russia, added Zhirinovsky, who said he had never accepted bribes.
Russia's Foreign Ministry also issued a terse response to the subcommittee report.
"Senators try to discredit the U.N. and accuse other countries, ignoring the involvement of U.S. companies in the oil-for-food program," it said in a statement.
"It would be more logical to look for violations in its own country and the Senate committee has a mandate for it."
The U.N. imposed sanctions after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990.
Six years later, the 1996 the oil-for-food program was launched to alleviate the impact o f the sanctions o n ordinary Iraqis. The Security Council allowed Iraq to sell oil and buy food, medicine and other goods, and allowed Baghdad to draw up its own contracts.
The scheme left room for abuse in the $64 billion program, administered by the U .N. and monitored by a Security Council panel.
Russia tops the list of nations accused of helping Saddam to circumvent sanctions and embezzle money through illegal surcharges and kickbacks from foreign companies and individuals participating in the program.
Last November, four investigators attached to the U.N.'s Volcker Commission, also probing the allegations, traveled to Moscow for consultations.
Moscow's official news agency RIA wrote in a comment that "the fact that 30-40 percent of all of the oil sold under the oil-for-food program was allocated to Russia is now being used as a pretext to accuse Russia of inappropriate support of Saddam regime."
The agency said Russia had economic reasons to oppose the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam in 2003 because by early that year Russia had become Iraq's main economic partner.
A motive behind the war was Washington's desire to replace Russia and become Iraq's top economic partner, RIA charged.
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