settlement                                                            
Moscow, March 20, Itar-Tass/ACSNA/IRNA -- Iraq hopes that Russia      
will continue to play a role in the political settlement of the       
conflict, the Iraqi ambassador in Moscow, Abbas Khalaf said Thursday. 
    Interviewed live on the Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) radio        
station, Khalaf said Russia was acting in defence of Iraq and         
international law.                                                    
    "Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov's latest statement in the   
U.N. Security Council was graphic evidence of that," the Iraqi        
ambassador said.                                                      
/YS/RR                                                                
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