Russians Flout Iraq Air Ban

A Russian humanitarian delegation landed in Baghdad's newly reopened international airport without U.N. approval Saturday amid Iraqi hopes of more visits from abroad following last week's defiant trip by Venezuela's president.

Russia insisted that, since it was a humanitarian mission, the flight did not violate U.N. sanctions imposed on Iraq since 1990, which include an air embargo—an interpretation the United States and other countries have disputed.

"We have not asked the United Nations for approval…We just informed the U.N.," Russian Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Ruslan Salikov told reporters after disembarking from the plane. "We are on a humanitarian mission so we do not need approval for the permission to fly into Iraq."

The Russian plane landed Saturday evening at Saddam International Airport, bearing a 35-member delegation from Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry, the official Iraqi News Agency reported. They will be in Iraq for several days.

Past flights bearing humanitarian aid into Iraq have sought waivers from the U.N. committee enforcing the sanctions on Iraq. However, France and Russia, considered Iraq's strongest allies on the council, say waivers are not needed for non-commercial flights, while the United States and Britain insist they are.

Salikov said his ministry plans more flights to Iraq in the future. "We have the right to fly to any place we want without permission from anybody," he said.

Saddam International Airport reopened Thursday for the first time since the outbreak of the 1991 Gulf War—part of Iraq's push to end its international isolation.

The airport has not seen commercial flight hours since the war, although some humanitarian flights have used it since.

Iraq hopes the airport will welcome other foreign visitors in coming months. Indonesian President Abdurrhman Wahid has said he would visit Baghdad soon, and Iraqi newspapers have reported that French activists opposed to the sanctions plan an embargo-busting flight to Baghdad next month.

Last week, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez became the first head of state to come to Iraq since the war. Chavez, who entered Iraq by car to respect the flight ban, was condemned by Washington as bestowing undue credibility on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Russia, one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, has repeatedly pushed for the early lifting of sanctions imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.

U.N. resolutions say the sanctions are to remain in place until Baghdad complies with demands to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction.

Some marked the recent 10th anniversary of the Iraqi invasion by protesting the sanctions.

By WAIEL FALEH