Putin promises Iraq to lift the sanctions

The Iraqi daily al-Thawra said on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised Iraq he will work to lift the embargo imposed on it since 1990.

The Iraqi paper added that Putin sent a message to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in which he said that Russia will continue its principled policy and will work actively to lift the sanctions from Iraq.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Iranian prisoners and missing committee, Maj. Gen. Abdullah Najafi, said that the latest statistics indicate that 3,206 Iranian prisoners are in Iraq.

In a statement he made on Sunday in Tehran, Najafi added that lists were submitted by the names of the Iranian prisoners left in Iraq to the International committee of the Red Cross and the Iraqi officials.

The Iranian official explained that more than 9,000 Iraqi prisoners asked for asylum in Iran and officially submitted asylum applications to this effect.