RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT URGES IRAQI OIL PURCHASES.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry yesterday called upon Russian companies to purchase oil from Baghdad and to supply Iraq with humanitarian goods. The exhortation came in the wake of a recent UN decision permitting Iraq to sell $2 billion worth of oil, and was aimed at spurring Russian enterprises to battle for footholds in the Iraqi economy in expectation of the eventual lifting of all UN trade sanctions on Iraq. (Interfax, UPI, July 23)

Pyongyang Absent at Russian Naval Ceremony.