The Guardian: Russia denies deal with US over Iraq

The Russian defense minister Sergy Ivanov has stressed that the US has failed to give clear evidence to justify the launching of a military attack against Iraq.

In a statement to the British daily the Guardian issued on Friday, the Russian minister denied news which talked about a deal provided by the US administration for Russia to compensate Russia for its economic losses in Iraq, expected to reach billions of dollars in case the US launches its attack against Iraq.

Ivanov said that the greatest threat facing American- Russian relations is that the US rejects to take into consideration that the world is now a collective international society, and that Washington's determination to take unillateral measures will not solve the problem, rather will create new problems that cannot be anticipated.

Ivanov ruled out a Russian- British agreement on a new resolution at the UN security council, calling for the need of the return back of UN inspectors to Iraq.

Meantime, Russia was removed today from a blacklist of countries that have money laundering. the New Times reported today Anders Aslund, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington saying that "It's political in the sense that the U.S. would not do it if they didn't want to have a good relationship with Russia."