US says more Russian ships trying to reach Iraq

By Charles Aldinger MUNICH, Feb 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Defence Secretary William Cohen said on Thursday an increasing number of Russian ships were attempting to run an international embargo against Iraq.

But he said there was no evidence Moscow was officially supporting that smuggling effort.

Cohen also said a day after a U.S. warship detained a Russian tanker leaving the Gulf that Baghdad was increasing smuggling efforts to circumvent the decade-old embargo on oil and arms.

He said the United States would "intensify our intervention efforts" to halt this.

"There has been more activity on the part of some Russian tankers and ships," he told reporters travelling with him to Munich from Washington when asked if Russian ships had recently increased efforts to sneak prohibited items into or out of Iraq.

"We have no information that would indicate that is being sanctioned by the Russian government," Cohen added.

But he stressed that "when we suspect that there is a ship in violation, whatever its flag or origin, it's going to be intercepted."

Cohen said in an interview that inspectors from the U.S. warship Monterey who boarded the Russian tanker would take samples of the oil and examine such items as log books to try and determine where the oil on the ship came from.

"If it is Iraqi oil, then it will be diverted and disposed of," Cohen said.

Speaking to reporters flying with him to attend an international security conference in Munich, Cohen said Iraq's President Saddam Hussein appeared to be increasing efforts to break the embargo.

"I think that, over all, there has been an increase on the part of Iraq to intensify its smuggling operations and we are simply going to have to intensify our own intervention to prevent that from taking place," he said.

"I think that Saddam will do whatever he can to circumvent the sanctions. If there is a laxity on the enforcement part, then they will seek to exploit it." Iraqi has not been able to sell its oil on the open market since U.N. sanctions were imposed after its 1990 invasion of neighbouring Kuwait. In 1996, the U.N. Security Council launched an oil-for-food programme to allow Iraq to export limited amounts of oil to buy humanitarian goods for its people.

Iraq is not only prohibited from exporting large amounts of oil, but is forbidden from importing weapons or so-called "dual-use" items that might be used in the production of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

U.S. and British warships in the Gulf and Red Sea are the chief enforcers of the embargo. The U.S. military said last October it had diverted at least five ships carrying cargo to Iraq during a month-long period after searching for contraband.

) copyright 2000 Reuters, Ltd.

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), February 03, 2000

Answers

If I were one of the leaders of Russia I would NEVER submit to this type of humiliation. They certainly don't have so I wonder why they are? What do you think would happen if a US tanker were boarder and detained by the Russian navy? Regards, RLW

-- RLW (rlw6883@ipa.net), February 03, 2000.

Sorry, The previous post should have read, "...boarded and detained..." Spell checker won't catch grammar. RLW

-- RLW (rlw6883@ipa.net), February 03, 2000.

This would be a great way to distract the public's attention from the real issues...wag the dog.....maybe we'll see the fleets headed for the Gulf and missle strikes on Iraq soon. A confrontation with Russia, swords rattling...I can see the CNN crew getting their graphics ready for "Showdown in the Gulf".....Bread and Circuses, SPQR....

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 03, 2000.

What do they mean by the oil will be "disposed" of? Other than being sold, how would one go about disposing of thousands of gallons of oil?

-- LZach (lisa@texasnetworks.com), February 03, 2000.

What do most "police forces" do with "loot" they "recover"?

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), February 03, 2000.

Load it on another vessel and ship it to New York.

-- Bill P (porterwn@one.net), February 03, 2000.

yeah well, that was the first thing that came to mind. I thought maybe since the tanker was diverted to a "third party country" there was some UN "guideline" as to how the contraban oil was "disposed of".

Reading between the lines here, or maybe just an overactive imagination, would the US resort to intercepting vessels and swiping the so-called contraban oil to make up for shortages here and elsewhere?

-- LZach (lisa@texasnetworks.com), February 03, 2000.

thanks, Bill. answered that question! ;o)

-- LZach (lisa@texasnetworks.com), February 03, 2000.

How bizarre!

How can Cohen suggest ANY Soviet ship would violate an American imbargo without the .gov's approval? A title search would most likely yield the tankers as property of the .gov, don't you think?

So Putin et al can now dramatize to the citizens "people here are freezing to death, and the Americans ..blah blah blah." Great political opportunity for him to generate anti-American thinking, unfortunately.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), February 03, 2000.

I saw on the TeeVee Eyewitless news tonight that if it is determined that the oil is from Iraq, we (the US) will confiscate and sell both cargo and vessel. THAT'LL go over big with Mr. Putin, I'm sure.

This situation has the potential to get ugly in a hurry. If parts of the former Soviet Union are indeed in the dire straits we've read about in some of the past few days' postings, they NEED that oil. You can bet they'll fight for it if pushed.

Jimmy

-- Jimmy Splinters (inthe@dark.com), February 03, 2000.

"disposed of" - how about to the highest bidder? Guess who that is right now?

-- Laurane (familyties@rttinc.com), February 03, 2000.

It takes some time to move ships (and other stuff painted green and grey) around the world, right? So, the 'other Soviet ships heading for Iraq' part has been under way for some time.

That time requirement makes it look more and more like either a test by Putin and company, or desperation for oil. I think they could find sources an awful lot closer to home. So, a test, a power play. This power play (the operational plan) had to have been agreed upon, and implementation started, perhaps even before Putin officially took over. Also, Putin and company cannot tolerate loss of face. So, if this is a gambit, or if the Sovs are in that bad a position oil-wise, would you expect them to have made this move without plenty of recently trained and maintained green and grey stuff to back it up?

Those points, in turn, beg the question of what other assets are already in place, in that area or in other major potential trouble spots. Assets as in personnel, weapons systems, and so on.

Now, stretched as thin as our armed forces have been, if you had been sitting in on recent meetings between Sov and Chinese general staffs, if this is a distraction, what other mischief might you have heard them agree to, and where?

-- Redeye in Ohio (cannot@work.com), February 04, 2000.

Just another Good cop, Bad cop scenario.

Clinton looks tough, Putin gets to spin some rehtoric, Hussein looks bad, the world still goes on believing that America's still acting as self appointed GloboCop, military can go on getting funding, local issues get swept away, etc. etc. Everybody wins. So why not do it.

After a little while everybody says, kisses and makes up and the world keeps turning until the next go around.

Since nobody ever can find out the truth, if you were in power it makes perfect sense to pull one of these stunts every once in a while. You never loose because the public are so gullible they fall for it every time, and the press never do their real job any more and just carry on rehashing what they're told to say.

-- Interested Spectator (is@the_ring.side), February 04, 2000.

Navy To Keep Control Russian Tanker

WASHINGTON (AP)  A day after the Navy detained a Russian oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, the Clinton administration disclosed Thursday that it has been in contact with Russian officials for almost a month about the smuggling of Iraqi oil in violation of the U.N. economic embargo.

The seizure of the tanker called attention to what the administration described as a recent mushrooming of illicit oil sales by Iraq. Such exports average 100,000 barrels a day, compared with 50,000 barrels in 1998, when oil prices were much lower, said State Department spokesman James Foley.

These exports are separate from the carefully controlled, U.N.- approved Iraqi oil sales that pay for food, medicine and other humanitarian items for the Iraqi people.

The Navy said it planned to divert and retain control of the merchant vessel Volga-Neft-147, pending a decision on whether to seize the oil.

The Russians said the oil came from Iran, not Iraq.

U.S. and allied ships are tightening enforcement of the U.N. embargo to counteract a surge in Iraqi oil smuggling, Defense Secretary William Cohen said Thursday.

While Russian vessels increasingly have been involved, there is no immediate indication of a direct connection to the Russian government, Cohen said in an interview en route to Munich, Germany, where he will attend a weekend conference on European security issues.

``Overall there has been an increase on the part of Iraq to intensify its smuggling operations, and we're going to have to simply intensify our own intervention to prevent that,'' Cohen said.

He said he thinks Iraq's president, Saddam Hussein, ``will do whatever he can to try to circumvent the sanctions. If he can get away with it, if there's a laxity on the enforcement part, then he will seek to exploit it.''

The vessel was commandeered off the coast of the United Arab Emirates by the guided missile cruiser USS Monterey. The Pentagon said cooperation from the ship's master and crew was excellent.

The U.S. ship was part of a multinational maritime interception force (MIF) that enforces the 9-year-old U.N. embargo against Iraq.

Since 1990, Foley said, the MIF has queried via radio more than 28,000 vessels and has boarded more than 12,000. About 700 have been diverted for violating U.N. sanctions.

``In 1999, there were 2,422 queries, 700 boardings and 19 diversions to various ports of call,'' he said.

The last time a Russian-flagged vessel was boarded was Aug. 31, 1998, he said, adding that the last actual diversion of such a ship occurred eight months earlier.

Rear Adm. Craig Quigley told Pentagon reporters the Volga-Neft-147 carried gas oil, a refined petroleum product. He said a sample could provide clues to the oil's source.

Foley said the talks with Russian officials focused on the MIF's suspicions regarding activities of vessels belonging to certain Russian firms.

The Russians told U.S. officials that the ship is privately owned and that a Russian investigation is under way, he said.

He declined to say whether the issue arose this week in Moscow when Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with acting Russian President Alexander Putin and other officials.

Defense Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that if the oil is found to have come from Iraq, the boarding party likely would request permission from an Emirates port to dock the ship and dispose of the contraband oil.

The normal procedure would be for the contraband to be sold, with the profits used partly to offset the costs of the nation that agrees to take the vessel and partly to pay for the MIF operation, Quigley said.

-- Our tax dollars (hard@work.thanks), February 04, 2000.