Russia:  Putin Plans to Appoint Siege Investigator

Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to appoint an official to resolve remaining questions about the theater hostage standoff that ended Oct. 26 with the use of an incapacitating gas, Yabloko party leader Grigory Yavlinsky said Friday (see GSN, Nov. 11).

The Russian Duma has rejected two proposals to establish an investigative commission on the theater siege and the special forces assault, which left 128 hostages and almost 50 Chechen militants dead, according to Russian officials.

“I spoke to the president, and the president agreed that there need to be official answers to the key questions.  And he said he will appoint an official representative to give these answers,” Yavlinsky said (Sarah Karush, Associated Press/Moscow Times, Nov. 18).

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Iraq:  Turkish Health Officials Deny Atropine Purchase

Turkish health and pharmaceutical officials yesterday denied any knowledge of an Iraqi order for 1.25 million doses of atropine, a nerve gas antidote, from a Turkish supplier, according to the state-run Anatolian news agency, Reuters reported (see GSN, Nov. 14).

“No official request has come and no official trade has taken place, but we know that other countries carry out unofficial trade,” Turkish Health Ministry Undersecretary Sefer Aycan said.  “It may have been by other means,” he added (Reuters/Washington Times, Nov. 14).

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Iraq:  Disapproval of Atropine Reverses Previous U.S. Policy

Although the Bush administration has said it is concerned about Iraqi purchases of atropine, a drug that can be used as an antidote to nerve gas, U.S. officials on a U.N committee that monitors Iraqi imports have approved most of the purchases, the Wall Street Journal reported today (see GSN, Nov. 12).

Since 1997, Iraq has ordered more than 3.5 million atropine doses, according to U.N. records.  It is possible that Baghdad might want to use the drug to treat its own troops when launching a chemical attack against an enemy force, U.S. officials said.  U.S. suspicions grew last month when the United Nations approved a purchase of 1.5 million atropine doses, according to the Journal.

The United States previously has appeared convinced, however, that the Iraqi atropine purchases have been meant for civilian use, the Journal reported.  With U.S. support, the U.N. sanctions committee approved an Iraqi purchase of 1 million doses in 1998 and another transaction for the same amount in 2001, according to U.N. records.  U.N. investigators found evidence that health officials in Iraqi provinces received the drug from the 2001 purchase, said Hasmik Egian, a spokesman for the U.N. Iraq program.

“It is true that these are medical supplies and they have basically gone through the sanctions committee without questions,” a U.S. official said.  “But at any given moment, it’s reasonable to ask why they need this much,” the official added (David Cloud, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 13).

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Czech Response:  Kuwait Offers to Pay Czechs

Kuwait has offered to pay for all of the 250 troops of the Czech chemical warfare unit to remain in the emirate for another year, potentially expanding current plans for only 50 Czech soldiers to stay, Ceske Noviny reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 22).

Czech officials are aware of the Kuwaiti offer to keep the entire contingent in place but they have not indicated whether they plan to accept the proposal.  The soldiers, who have been stationed in Kuwait since March, are trained to protect other forces from weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, April 30).

“Kuwait has offered the possibility of fully financing the unit,” Czech Defense Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik said.

To save money, Czech officials originally intended to repatriate 200 of the soldiers with the possibility of returning them to Kuwait on 48-hour notice.  Kuwait is considering purchasing the troops’ equipment and training its own specialists, Ceske Noviny reported (Ceske Noviny, Nov. 12).

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Iraq:  Baghdad Seeks Nerve Gas Treatments

Senior Bush administration officials believe that Iraq has ordered a large amount of atropine, a drug that can counter the effects of nerve agents, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Nov. 6).

The size of the order for 1 million doses of atropine — an antidote for sarin and VX — and autoinjectors to administer the drug is far larger than that needed for normal medical use, officials said.  Iraq has also attempted to purchase quantities of obidoxime chloride, another drug that can counter the effects of certain chemical weapons, an official said.

It is unknown how many antidote orders have been delivered, the Times reported.  The United States is pressuring the potential atropine supplier, which is Turkish, to stop any sales, the administration officials said.

“If the Iraqis were going to use nerve agents, they would want to take steps to protect their own soldiers, if not their population,” an official said (see GSN, Oct. 29).  “This is something that U.S. intelligence is mindful of and very concerned about,” the official added.

Atropine is not included in a U.N. list of dual-use items for which sales to Iraq must first be reviewed because medical facilities usually maintain stockpiles of the drug for patients with heart attacks, officials said.  Such a large-scale purchases of atropine, however, has raised concerns because it is usually given in small doses intravenously to treat heart attack victims, according to the Times.

The Iraqi drug orders have been a topic of discussion at recent White House meetings, and the U.S. State Department has attempted over the last two months to pressure Turkey into stopping the atropine sale, according to the Times.  For its part, Turkey has indicated that it will review the issue and consider blocking the sale, an official said.

There are few known peaceful uses for such large quantities of atropine, said Dave Franz, former director of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., and Frederick Sidell, a chemical weapons expert who worked at the Army Medical Institute of Chemical Defense.

“The Iraqis must know that we are not going to use such agents against them, because we don’t have chemical weapons,” Franz said (Judith Miller, New York Times, Nov. 12).

For further information, see:

U.N. Resolution 687 (Sanctions Regime)

U.N. Resolution 1409 (“Smart Sanctions”)

U.S. State Department Fact Sheet on Iraqi Sanctions Revisions

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