WAR ON IRAK

Seattle Post: Russia Accuses U.S. of Seizing Iraqi Oil

MOSCOW -- Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov criticized the U.S.-led war on Iraq, accusing Washington on Saturday of trying to seize control of Iraq's oil while shutting out companies from Russia and elsewhere.

Baghdad owes Moscow at least $7 billion in Soviet-era debt and has awarded lucrative oil contracts to Russian oil companies.

Ivanov said Washington's call to expel Iraqi diplomats seemed part of a strategy to invalidate those oil deals by further undermining the legitimacy of Saddam Hussein's regime. Russia has refused to comply with the American request to force out the diplomats.

"We will have to defend our interests so that the contracts which were signed under Saddam Hussein are not annulled as lacking legal force and to make sure the Iraqi debt owed us is respected," he said in a speech to Russia's top political analysts, who were meeting near Moscow.