Arming Iraq

last updated 8 January 2015

Moscow

Russia has vehemently denied a U.S. charge that its arms firms sold weapons and military equipment to Iraq in violation of the U.N. embargo. American officials told The Washington Post that Russian technicians were actually in Baghdad after the war began, training Iraqis to use Russian-made devices that jam global positioning system technology. Officials also said Russia recently shipped thousands of pairs of night-vision goggles, as well as anti-tank missiles, to Iraq. “They are just making this up,” said Oleg Antonov, director of the Russian military technology firm Aviaconversiya. “They won’t find any of our technicians in Iraq. The Americans are trying to find a scapegoat because their bombs are not falling as accurately as they want.”