Moscow, July 23: Russia was cautious in its reaction to the killing of Uday and Qusay, the sons of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, with a senior minister today expressing concern over the negative fallout of the incident and urging to focus on post-war reconstruction. "It is difficult to say how the fact of deaths of Saddam Hussein's sons would effect the situation in Iraq. We are closely watching the development of situation," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov said commenting on the reported killing of the Iraqi heirs on the run in a US raid yesterday in Mosul.

Now the regime in Iraq has changed and it is important to focus efforts for the restoration of normal life in this country," Fedotov was quoted as saying by Ria Novosti agency. Fedotov expressed support for the UN General Secretary Kofi Annan's proposals for setting a roadmap for restoration of Iraq's sovereignty and expanding the UN mandate in post-war dispensation in the country.

He said that dispatching the Russian military contingent for peacekeeping force in Iraq was not on the cards at this juncture and did not rule out that UN Security Council could adopt a resolution after some time authorising the international peacekeeping forces in the country.

Bureau Report