MOSCOW. March 21 (Interfax) - The Iraqi Embassy in
Moscow will not be closed down, nor will its diplomats leave
Russia, Iraqi Ambassador Abbas Khalaf said at a press
conference in Moscow.
Asked about the U.S. request that
countries temporarily close down Iraqi diplomatic missions and
deport the staff, Khalaf replied that "from a legal point of
view, [Washington] has grossly interfered in other countries'
internal affairs."
Iraq "has a larger embassy in Moscow than
other Arab countries and we will continue to work here despite
U.S. expectations," he said.
During the second night of bombing, 36
people were wounded.
Khalaf rejected U.S. reports that Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein might have been killed in the
bombing. "Hussein is alive and well and so are his families
and children," he said.
Khalaf declined to say whether Hussein is
still in Baghdad. "Such information is classified during a
war," he said. However, Hussein "is a person who would never
flee the fatherland in times of danger," he said. [RU EUROPE
ASIA EEU EMRG POL] sa mg <>
