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Oil-for-food aided Russians, report says: Iraq sought to influence U.N. through Moscow
Top Kremlin operatives and a flamboyant Russian politician reaped millions of dollars in profits under the U.N. oil-for-food program by selling oil that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein allowed them to buy at a deep discount, a Senate investigation has concluded.
The allegations – which also include descriptions of kickbacks paid to Hussein – are detailed in hundreds of pages of reports and documents made public last night by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in advance of a hearing tomorrow.
The documents outline a trail of oil and money that leads directly from Iraq to the Kremlin and the former chief of staff to Russian President Vladimir Putin and former president Boris Yeltsin. The report said Iraq sought to influence and reward the Russian government because it sits on the powerful U.N. Security Council that oversaw sanctions against the Hussein government. Russia repeatedly sided with Iraq on issues before the Security Council. “This is the way Saddam used oil-for-food: to line his own pocket and curry political favor,” said Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), chairman of the investigations subcommittee that released the reports.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com …
Top Kremlin operatives and a flamboyant Russian politician reaped millions of dollars in profits under the U.N. oil-for-food program by selling oil that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein allowed them to buy at a deep discount, a Senate investigation has concluded.
The allegations – which also include descriptions of kickbacks paid to Hussein – are detailed in hundreds of pages of reports and documents made public last night by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in advance of a hearing tomorrow.
The documents outline a trail of oil and money that leads directly from Iraq to the Kremlin and the former chief of staff to Russian President Vladimir Putin and former president Boris Yeltsin. The report said Iraq sought to influence and reward the Russian government because it sits on the powerful U.N. Security Council that oversaw sanctions against the Hussein government. Russia repeatedly sided with Iraq on issues before the Security Council. “This is the way Saddam used oil-for-food: to line his own pocket and curry political favor,” said Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), chairman of the investigations subcommittee that released the reports.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com …