18 June 2004 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said today in Astana that, before the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Moscow had warned Washington that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was planning terrorist attacks against the United States.
Putin said Russian special services received such information on several occasions and "passed it on to their American colleagues."
But Putin said Russian intelligence did not have any information that Hussein's regime had actually been behind any attacks. Putin said the information did not change Russia's firm opposition to the war in Iraq.
He was speaking in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on the sidelines of regional meetings. Putin's comments came as U.S. President George W. Bush reiterated that Hussein had ties with terrorist organizations, which was one of his administration's justifications for the war.
(ITAR-TASS-Ru/Reuters/AP)
Putin said Russian special services received such information on several occasions and "passed it on to their American colleagues."
But Putin said Russian intelligence did not have any information that Hussein's regime had actually been behind any attacks. Putin said the information did not change Russia's firm opposition to the war in Iraq.
He was speaking in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on the sidelines of regional meetings. Putin's comments came as U.S. President George W. Bush reiterated that Hussein had ties with terrorist organizations, which was one of his administration's justifications for the war.
(ITAR-TASS-Ru/Reuters/AP)
