IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER IN MOSCOW.

Following talks with his Iraqi counterpart in Moscow yesterday, Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov called for quick implementation of the UN’s 1995 "oil-for-food" resolution. The plan provides for a partial lifting of sanctions against Iraq by allowing it to sell $2 billion worth of oil in order to buy food-stuffs and medicines for Iraq’s civilian population. Negotiations on implementation of the resolution were put on hold following Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s dispatch of troops to northern Iraq late this summer. The U.S., along with Britain, has generally taken a harder line on the partial lifting of sanctions, while Moscow has received some backing from France and China in its efforts both to advance the oil-for-food deal and, ultimately, to win a complete lifting of UN sanctions on Iraq. Russia has recently concluded billions of dollars worth of deals with Baghdad, particularly in the energy sector, but they can be launched only after sanctions on Iraq are lifted. (Reuter, November 8; Reuter, Itar-Tass, November 10)

Moscow’s Municipal Government Helping Grozny Back on Its Feet.