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#2 - JRL 8440 - JRL Home
Russia could send troops to Iraq - expert

MOSCOW. Nov 4 (Interfax) - Ivan Safranchuk, director of the Moscow office of the Center for Defense Information, does not rule out the possibility of Russia sending troops to join the international peacekeeping forces in Iraq.

"Theoretically, Russia may share in some format in a peacekeeping operation in Iraq if the operation is carried out under the UN flag, but I do not think this involvement will be very active," he told Interfax on Thursday.

With George W. Bush reelected as U.S. president, such developments are not very likely. However, the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq will most probably "gradually shrink with U.S. and British units still remaining its core," Safranchuk said.

The Russian and U.S. leaders now "will try to reformulate interaction in dealing with so-called problem countries into a broader context of working out a joint concept for a strategy of relations with such countries," he said.