MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Friday it had rejected a U.S. request to expel Iraqi diplomats accused by Washington of spying.
But Hungary became the latest country to send home Iraqi embassy staff, following on the heels of Sweden, Australia, Romania, the Philippines and the United States itself. Belgium this week refused a similar U.S. demand.
"The Russian Foreign Ministry believes such a request is unacceptable and, of course, the Russian side will not take such a step," a ministry spokesman in Moscow said.
The United States has approached 60 countries, requesting the expulsion of diplomats it says are engaged in espionage. The State Department has said the Iraqi envoys are a threat to U.S. personnel overseas.
"We've raised concerns worldwide, including in Russia, about potential activities of Iraqi intelligence officers," a senior U.S. official said in Moscow earlier this week.
"I think there are a number of people here who think the best solution would be for them to leave, but at a minimum they should be kept under a very tight watch."
Baghdad has accused Washington of inventing pretexts to expel its diplomats. It urged countries approached by the United States not to follow the "foolish, imperialist and mad policy adopted by this evil administration."
On Thursday Sweden asked two Iraqi diplomats to leave the country, saying they had spied on Iraqi refugees there.
"Unfortunately the Swedish government has surrendered to the U.S. pressures," Iraqi charge d'affaires Qassim Al-Zuhairi told reporters one day after he and a colleague were asked to leave.
But Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson said on Friday the decision had nothing to do with the U.S. request. Anybody who believed that was "completely confused," he told reporters.
NATO (news – web sites) member Hungary announced on Friday it had expelled two of the four diplomats working at Iraq (news – web sites)'s embassy in Budapest.
"The diplomats were expelled because of activity incompatible with their status," Foreign Ministry spokesman Tamas Toth told Reuters, using the diplomatic language for spying.
Toth said the Iraqis did not include the acting head of mission. He declined to give further details.
Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has said it will not support any fresh U.N. resolution paving the way for war against President Saddam Hussein (news – web sites)'s Iraq. Like France and Germany, Russia supports proposals that would give U.N. inspectors more time to search for weapons of mass destruction. (Additional reporting by Peter Starck in Stockholm and Sandor Peto in Budapest)
