Russia Questions UN Oil-For-Food Documents
28 October 2005 -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that documents from the UN special commission probing the Iraqi oil-for-food program were falsified.
Lavrov was commenting on the report -- released on 27 October -- of the independent commission that conducted the investigation into the oil-for-food scandal.
The commission's report implicated senior Russian officials and Russia's LUKoil company in a scheme to undermine UN sanctions on Iraq.
Russian news agencies RIA Novosti and Interfax both quoted Lavrov as saying that those documents were falsified and signatures of Russian officials that appeared on them were forgeries.
Lavrov admitted he had not personally seen the documents in question and was relying on what he saw and heard on television.
Lavrov said it was necessary to study the facts before making any further comments on the matter.
(RIA-Novosti/Interfax/AFP/ITAR-TASS/Reuters)