Putin: Russia Urged nobody either to invade or to withdraw from Iraq

[The Straight Story]

PUTIN: RUSSIA URGED NOBODY EITHER TO INVADE OR TO WITHDRAW FROM IRAQ

MOSCOW, December 10 (RIA Novosti) - "We have never recommended that any country, including Spain, move its troops into Iraq. Therefore we offered no objections to the incumbent Spanish government against withdrawing its contingent from Iraq", Putin said at a press-conference following his talks with the Spanish prime minister.

One Spanish journalist, claiming Putin had been initially critical about Spain's decision to withdraw from Iraq, asked him whether he was now more agreeable.

Putin qualified the question as a very strange one, saying he would like to reiterate that Russia's attitude toward the Iraq operation had been always negative and therefore no comment was required.

Meanwhile I am worried, he said, about the terrorists' attempts to upset the political situation in different countries.

http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=5198033&startrow=21&date=2004-12-10&do_alert=0