Belarus denies selling Iraq weapons

Lukashenko says weapons sales are strictly controlled

By Nikolai Gorshkov BBC correspondent, Minsk

Belarus has angrily reacted to accusations of helping Iraq procure weapons systems in violation of the United Nations sanctions.

The former Soviet republic has been named in several reports as one of the suppliers of sensitive materials and technologies to Saddam Hussein.

Our country doesn't have the clout to defy the international community, and we simply don't have weapons of mass destruction

President Alexander Lukashenko

Interviewed by the BBC the Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko emphatically denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Lukashenko looked visibly angry when told that his country was accused of aiding and abetting Iraq in its efforts to create weapons of mass destruction.

He lambasted the West for what he called "thoughtless and senseless statements".

He said Belarus had very good relations with Iraq, but entirely within the framework of the UN sanctions regime.

"Our country doesn't have the clout to defy the international community, and we simply don't have weapons of mass destruction. Belarus is advanced in optics, mathematics and electronics, without which no weapons are possible. We supply these products all over the world, with the exception of Iraq. Can you guarantee that our binoculars sold to a British company won't end up in a problem country?"

Strict controls

Alexander Lukashenko said that, before he was elected president in 1994, Belarus had been selling off stockpiles of Soviet arms to obscure customers.

But he boasted of setting up a system which requires approval of four committees to sell, as he put it, even a single bullet.

He expressed his frustration with the UN sanctions, though, saying they were holding back Belarussian exports to Iraq.

Having been ostracised by the West for his authoritarian rule, Minsk is looking to the Middle East for business opportunities.

Some of these exchanges may be a bit sensitive, says the head of a Belarussian think tank Leonid Zaiko.

"Some of the Belarussians, especially scientific research specialist take part in this programme for training in Arabic countries, in Iraq especially. In our military complex they usually have specialists in the anti-missiles systems," Mr Zaiko says.

Minsk has seen several high level Iraqi delegations in recent months.

Officially, they discussed trade and scientific exchanges worth millions of dollars.

One of the delegations was led by the Iraqi Minister for Military Industrialisation.

This alone may send alarm bells ringing in Washington and London.