Spying for Iraq

last updated 8 January 2015

Moscow

Iraqi intelligence documents captured in Baghdad reveal extensive Russian assistance to Saddam Hussein’s spy network, the London Telegraph reported this week. The documents show that Russia trained Iraqi spies as late as last November—a clear violation of U.N. sanctions—and even gave Saddam names of assassins who could do hits on Western targets. One memo filed by an Iraqi agent says that a Russian spy gave him details of a private conversation between the British and Italian prime ministers that was secretly recorded by the Russians. “We knew that there were contacts between the intelligence services of Iraq and Russia,” U.S. Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow told the Moscow daily Vremya novostei. “But it’s still too early to make any assessments.”