Russia poured scorn yesterday on US claims to be liberating the Iraqi people by going to war against Baghdad, saying Washington was defying the world with its "doomed" attempt to depose President Saddam Hussein.
"This is not about democratising Iraq - it's about the total destruction of the country," Foreign Minister Mr Igor Ivanov said, deriding the US-led assault as "illegal and doomed to failure".
"Russia has asked the United States several times to provide explanations for the legal basis of this operation, but received no response," Mr Ivanov said, amid growing fears among businessmen here that Moscow's opposition to the US-led war could jeopardise the huge contracts signed by Russian firms to develop Iraq's oil reserves, the second biggest in the world.
Mr Ivanov, launching another salvo in an increasingly bitter dispute between the old Cold War foes over the Gulf crisis, said Washington should not seek legitimacy for its campaign by citing the discovery of chemical or biological weapons in Iraq.
"If there are claims made by coalition forces about discovering weapons of mass destruction . . . only international inspectors can make a conclusive assessment of the origin of these weapons," he said. "No other evaluation and final conclusion can be accepted."
Moscow, which hopes to recoup $8 billion in debt from Baghdad, was enraged this weekend when the White House accused Russian firms of selling high-tech military hardware to Baghdad, in contravention of United Nations sanctions.
The US Ambassador to Moscow, Mr Alexander Vershbow, said yesterday that Washington might place sanctions on the companies in question, but Mr Ivanov denounced the allegations as crude propaganda.
Washington "was trying to drag Russia into an information war" on Iraq, he said.
"The details that the US side gave us have been checked by the competent Russian authorities, and they do not stand up," Mr Ivanov said of White House allegations that Russian companies had sold anti-tank missiles, night-vision goggles and electronic jamming equipment to the Iraqi army.