PRESS RELEASE

Alexander Yakovenko, the Official Spokesman of Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Answers a Question from ITAR-TASS News Agency Regarding Media Claims of an Actual UNSC Ban on Supplies of Trucks to Iraq

RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

January 10, 2003

Question: Do the claims of certain media correspond to reality that Resolution 1454 adopted on December 30, 2002, by the United Nations Security Council on adjustments to the Goods Review List (GRL) for Iraq actually prohibits supplies to the country of trucks, including those of Russian manufacture?

Answer: Those claims do not correspond to reality. In the course of the work on the draft of this resolution Russia achieved a considerable easing of a number of previously established criteria for motor freight vehicles. Thus, payload was increased from 15 to 20 tons, and engine horsepower from 300 to 370. This means that supplies to Iraq of trucks with attributes lower than those indicated will be accomplished almost automatically without consideration in the Sanctions Committee. Accordingly, a whole array of earlier blocked contracts will now get the green light in the event of a repeat execution of requests.

Furthermore, one should bear in mind that the GRL itself does not bear a prohibitive character. This presupposes that motor vehicles with attributes higher than those on the List may also be exported to Iraq on the condition of permission from the Sanctions Committee. We count on Committee members to show a constructive approach to considering Russian contracts and will determine our attitude to further work on improving the GRL depending on the effectiveness of the Committee's work in this direction.

In any case during the next GRL review at the beginning of March 2003 Russia intends to seek a further easing of the criteria set for motor freight vehicles taking into account the humanitarian significance of this problem and the economic interests of Russia.