MOSCOW CONDEMNS U.S. FOR IRAQ RAIDS. The Duma on 22 February
approved by a vote of 359 to two a resolution calling on
President Vladimir Putin to seek a United Nations decision to
lift the sanctions regime against Iraq, ITAR-TASS reported.
The parliament took this step after rejecting (by a vote of
23 in favor and 226 against) an LDPR resolution calling for
Russia to unilaterally end the restrictions on trade with
Baghdad. Meanwhile, in response to new U.S. raids on Iraq on
22 February, Colonel General Leonid Ivashov, who heads the
main international relations administration at the Defense
Ministry, said there was "no military reason" for such
strikes and that no state could feel safe now that George W.
Bush was president. PG
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