Russia Claims Law Forbids It From Helping in U.N. Probe

UNITED NATIONS – Information requested by U.N.-mandated investigators was not supplied by the Russian foreign ministry because of a conflict with state laws, Moscow’s envoy to the U.N. said yesterday, adding that some of the data might have been destroyed.The Russian ambassador, Andrey Denisov, told The New York Sun that Russian “regulations” were the reason for the refusal to provide cable communication data to investigators of the team headed by Paul Volcker.The dispute points to at least one potential conflict between Russian state laws and the Security Council’s call for all member states to help in the investigation, which carries the weight of international law. It also highlights the limits of the Volcker investigation, which lacks subpoena powers.Many at the U.N. believe that the oil-for-food scandal, which underlies the calls for Secretary-General Annan to resign, is the responsibility of member states, rather than the U.N. leadership, and that this view will be vindicated when Mr. Volcker presents an interim report, expected in January.Mr. Denisov told the Sun that diplomatic cable from the Russian Foreign Ministry, which Mr. Volcker’s investigators demanded to see on a visit to Moscow last month, were not provided because of Russian regulations that forbid showing them to outsiders. Furthermore, he said, many of the cables have probably been lost once they were archived by the ministry and erased after a period of time.“According to our regulations it is simply prohibited,” Mr. Denisov said, regarding the handing over of the disputed data. Cables are “classified information that cannot be provided to any foreigner.” In addition, he said, a “good part of this information simply does not exist,” since it had been archived by the ministry and then destroyed. He added that most of the “facts and figures” in the disputed cables has been handed over by Moscow to the Security Council organ that oversaw the program, known as the “661 Committee,” so named after the resolution that established it.All 661 Committee documents were handed over to the Volcker committee, but investigators presumably wanted to verify the information supplied by Russia with information in the cables. Meanwhile, after a meeting in Moscow yesterday between President Putin and Prime Minister Allawi of Iraq, officials in Moscow said Russia would try to win back oil contracts it signed under Saddam Hussein’s regime in exchange for Moscow’s promise to write off 90% of Iraq’s $8 billion debt, Agence France-Presse reported. The news agency Interfax earlier reported that Iraq’s ambassador in Russia, Abdul Hashim Mustafa, demanded that all of the debt be erased, and that if any wrongdoing is proved against Russia in the oil-for-food scandal that Moscow should compensate Iraq.At Turtle Bay, meanwhile, calls for Kofi Annan to resign his post as secretary-general, which he once again rejected yesterday, nevertheless became the talk of the organization.As the demands for Mr. Annan to step down gain steam in America, they have gained little traction among U.N. diplomats and world leaders, who have increasingly rallied behind the beleaguered secretary-general and displayed hostility toward those who call for his resignation. A nonbinding resolution in the House of Representatives calling on Mr. Annan to resign gained momentum with 58 House members co-sponsoring the bill. Plus, over 100 members of Congress have called for stopping American payments to the U.N. until it cooperates with American investigations into the oil-for-food scandal.At the same time, world leaders including President Chirac of France and Prime Minister Zapatero of Spain called Mr. Annan yesterday to hand him their support, and Prime Minister Blair of Britain relayed his support in a statement. At a monthly luncheon in which the 15 members of the Security Council hosted Mr. Annan, German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger called on all council members to show their support for Mr. Annan, according to one participant, Pakistan’s ambassador, Munir Akram.Mr. Annan told reporters earlier that he intends to “carry on” with the U.N. work for the next year.”I have quite a lot of work to do,”Mr.Annan said.”We have a major agenda next year, and the year ahead, trying to reform the organization.” On Monday, however, spokesman Fred Eckhard indicated that the attacks on Mr. Annan have taken their toll.“It’s not easy for him to take demands for his resignation from a few United States lawmakers and a few United States publications,” Mr. Eckhard said. “Nobody in the room called for Kofi Annan’s resignation,” Mr. Pleuger told reporters after the luncheon. “On the contrary, we all expressed our confidence in the secretary-general.” Others relayed similar sentiment, with the exception of the American ambassador, John Danforth, who like the rest of the Bush administration remained noncommittal.“I have great confidence in the secretary general,” Mr. Danforth told reporters, but added, “You can’t make up your mind before the facts are in. You just have to let the facts speak for themselves.” Other ambassadors flaunted their opposition to the American calls for Mr. Annan’s resignation. “Nobody can understand it,” the French ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, told the Sun. “These attacks against the secretary-general are attacks against the U.N. We need Annan’s leadership.”Iraq’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Feisal al-Istrabadi, said that the onus of the oil-for-food scandal should be on members of the council, who he said oversaw the program through the 661 Committee, rather than on Mr. Annan. “It’s not clear to me why these allegations should fall on the head of the secretary-general,” he told the Sun.ANNAN WATCHThe following is a list of politicians and press outlets that have called for Secretary-General Annan to resign:The New York SunThe New RepublicNational ReviewNew York Times columnist William SafireNew York PostPittsburgh Tribune-ReviewThe Montana NewsLas Vegas Review-JournalNational Post (Canada)The Times of LondonThe Robesonian (North Carolina)Fernando FerrerSenator Norman Coleman of MinnesotaSenator Richard Shelby of AlabamaSenator John Ensign of NevadaRep. Vito Fossella of New YorkRep. Peter King of New YorkRep. Scott Garrett of New JerseyRep. Roger Wicker of MississippiRep. Timothy Murphy of PennsylvaniaRep. Daniel Burton of IndianaRep. Michael Pence of IndianaRep. Michael Simpson of IdahoRep. C.L. Otter of IdahoRep. Gene Taylor of MississippiRep. John Duncan Jr. of TennesseeRep. James Gibbons of NevadaRep. Roscoe Bartlett of MarylandRep. Charles Pickering of MississippiRep. Robin Hayes of North CarolinaRep. Paul Gillmor of OhioRep. Dana Rohrabacher of CaliforniaRep. Mario Diaz-Balart of FloridaRep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of FloridaRep. Thomas Tancredo of ColoradoRep. Peter Sessions of TexasRep. James Ryun of KansasRep. Trent Franks of ArizonaRep. Samuel Johnson of TexasRep. Thomas Feeney of FloridaRep. Virgil Goode Jr. of VirginiaRep. Max Burns of GeorgiaRep. Randy Neugebauer of TexasRep. Thaddeus McCotter of MichiganRep. Michael Rogers of MichiganRep. William Jenkins of TennesseeRep. John Culberson of TexasRep. John Boozman of ArkansasRep. Ron Paul of TexasRep. Zachary Wamp of TennesseeRep. John Doolittle of CaliforniaRep. David Camp of MichiganRep. Sue Myrick of North CarolinaRep. Don Sherwood of PennsylvaniaRep. Jo Ann Davis of VirginiaRep. Donald Manzullo of IllinoisRep. Randy Forbes of VirginiaRep. J.D. Hayworth of ArizonaRep. Gresham Barrett of South CarolinaRep. Joseph Pitts of PennsylvaniaRep. Phillip Gingrey of GeorgiaRep. David Scott of GeorgiaRep. Steven Chabot of OhioRep. David Weldon of FloridaRep. Joseph Barton of TexasRep. Marsha Blackburn of TennesseeRep. James DeMint of South CarolinaRep. Eric Cantor of VirginiaRep. Robert Bishop of UtahRep. Robert Aderholt of AlabamaRep. Robert Goodlatte of VirginiaRep. Barbara Cubin of WyomingRep. Wally Herger of CaliforniaRep. Howard Coble of North CarolinaRep. Gilbert Gutknecht of MinnesotaRep. Walter Jones of North Carolina

Russia Claims Law Forbids It From Helping in U.N. Probe

Russia Claims Law Forbids It From Helping in U.N. Probe

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