Russia Questions U.S. Motives for Report

Russia Questions U.S. Motives for Report

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The Associated Press
Mar 27, 2006 2:48 PM (42 mins ago)

MOSCOW - Russia's foreign minister accused the United States on Monday of having "hidden political motives" for a report that said Moscow turned over information on American military plans to Saddam Hussein during the invasion of Iraq.

Sergey Lavrov's comments were the first formal statement from President Vladimir Putin's government about the Pentagon report, though a spokesman for Russia's foreign spy agency over the weekend denied the report's allegations.

The Pentagon report released Friday said two captured Iraqi documents indicate that Russia obtained information from sources "inside the American Central Command" in Qatar. Russia passed battlefield intelligence to Saddam through the former Russian ambassador in Baghdad, Vladimir Titorenko, according to the Pentagon report.

The unclassified report does not assess the value or accuracy of the information Saddam got or offer details on Russia's information pipeline. Moscow fiercely opposed the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam.

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