Moscow, June 03: Russia is to send its diplomats back to Iraq despite a US statement that it will not recognise the diplomatic status and immunity of foreign diplomats in Iraq accredited by the prewar regime, a foreign ministry spokesman said today. "Russia will in the near future send to Baghdad its Embassy staff who worked there and left because of the military activity. The decision to resume full diplomatic service was taken not just to ensure our presence in the country but also to provide assistance to Russian firms returning to the Iraqi market," Alexander Yakovenko said in a statement. Russia evacuated most of its staff from the Embassy days before US forces launched strikes against Iraq on March 20.
The spokesman stressed that Russia would exercise its right under UN Security Council resolution 1483, which last month ended UN sanctions on Iraq, "to play an equal part with other countries in the restoration of Iraq."

Russia "expects the occupying powers in Iraq to ensure, in line with international legal norms, the status and security of foreign diplomatic missions working in Baghdad," Yakovenko said.

It did not, however, clarify what the exact status of foreign diplomatic missions in Iraq - which are considered part of the sovereign territory of the country that owns or leases the property - would be. Bureau Report