US will question Russia about Iraq leak

The Associated Press reports that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed concerns over the allegations in television appearances over the weekend.

"Any implication that the, that there were those from a foreign government who may have been passing information to the Iraqis prior to the invasion would be, of course, very worrying," Rice said on CNN's "Late Edition."

Rice declined to speculate on whether Russia's actions, as detailed in a Pentagon report based on captured Iraqi documents, resulted in casualties among U.S. troops or what Russian President Vladimir Putin knew about any possible Russian involvement.

"We want to take a real hard look at the documents and then raise it with the Russian government," Rice said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

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The allegations appeared in a report by the United States Joint Forces Command. The report is the result of the Iraqi Perspective Project (IPP), a study, started in 2003, detailing Iraq's perception of the leadup to the war and of the war itself. A public version of the report was released Friday.

The Los Angeles Times reports that a key piece of evidence of Moscow's involvement was "a captured letter detailing Russian intelligence on American troop movements, [which] accurately informed Baghdad that U.S. forces were massing south of a narrow passage near the southern city of Karbala."

The April 2, 2003, letter, which was reportedly passed through Moscow's ambassador to Baghdad, informed Iraqi leaders that "the heaviest concentration of troops (12,000 troops plus 1,000 vehicles) was in the vicinity of Karbala." The 3rd Infantry Division, the main thrust of the U.S. invasion, eventually captured Baghdad by pushing through the Karbala gap just days later.

Other information provided by the Russians, however, was wildly inaccurate, particularly an assertion made both in the April 2 letter and an earlier March 24 document that the main American offensive would come from the western desert, including a major attack from Jordanian soil.

The Times also reports that, according to analysts, the IPP's revelation "could jeopardize U.S.-Russian relations more than any single event since the end of the Cold War."

While cautioning that Moscow may have an explanation, the analysts noted that some of the details were so sensitive that they would be difficult for the government of President Vladimir Putin to justify.

"This is one step short of firing upon us themselves with Russian equipment," said Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst with the Brookings Institute. "It's actively aiding and abetting the enemy tactically. It's hard to get more unfriendly than that."

On Sunday, Russia denied passing information to Iraq in an Associated Press article that ran in The Moscow Times.

Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia's UN mission in New York, said the allegations were false. "To my mind, from my understanding, it's absolutely nonsense and it's ridiculous," she said, adding that the U.S. government had not shown Russia the evidence cited in the report. "Somebody wants to say something, and did – and there is no evidence to prove it."

AP reports that a Russian Foreign Intelligence Service spokesman made a similar denial on Saturday, calling the claims "baseless accusations" and "fabrications."

AP also quotes Yevgenia Albats, a Moscow-based journalist who specializes in intelligence matters, who sees "at least a certain truth reflected in the Pentagon report," though she cautions that the Kremlin itself may not have been involved.

"It is sometimes difficult to figure out whether certain steps were undertaken with the knowledge of top Russian authorities or whether those were steps undertaken by certain intelligence officers on their own," Albats said.

She also said the release of the Pentagon report probably had as much to do with the poor state of Russian-U.S. relations as their differences over the Iraq war, which along with other disputes have frayed a once-promising partnership between Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin that developed after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Other sources in Russia have offered similar explanations for the IPP's accusations. News service RIA Novosti quotes an anonymous security source who called the charges " a form of revenge on the part of the U.S. for Russia's firm position in regard to hostilities on Iraq's territory." Meanwhile, the International Herald Tribune reports that Russian spokesmen suggested the Pentagon might be trying "to increase pressure on Russia to press Iran more actively to curb its nuclear program."

In light of the allegations, Senator Ted Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts, appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation," said that the US needs "an entirely new assessment of our relationship with Russia, should this be true," reports Bloomberg.

The administration should consider boycotting the July summit of the Group of Eight [G8] industrial nations, which will be held in Russia this year for the first time, he said....

Kennedy also criticized the Bush administration for not having reached a conclusion about the evidence.

"It's difficult for me to understand why the administration doesn't know today what happened," Kennedy said. "I can't think of anything that's on the president's desk or on the National Security Council desk more important."

But The Washington Times reports that National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley, also appearing on "Face the Nation," said the US would not boycott the G8, as "the economic summit hosted by Russia is too important to neglect."

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• Feedback appreciated. E-mail Arthur Bright.