MOSCOW. Nov 25 (Interfax-AVN) - A Russian chemistry expert, A. Utkina, is expected to join ten officials from the New York- based headquarters of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission on Iraq (UNMOVIC) that will leave for Baghdad on Monday, a Foreign Ministry source told Interfax.
The source said that another four Russian citizens, including S. Kuzin, a biologist, K. Sheluchenko, R. Yevmenov and M. Smirnov, all of them chemistry experts, will be included in a group of 90 international weapons inspectors who will go to Baghdad in early December. The source recalled that "should nothing unexpected occur, UNMOVIC plans to start its inspections in Iraq" on December 7.
This trip to Baghdad by the UN headquarters officials and eight representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will put the final touches on the preparations, including technical ones, for inspections in Iraq. As part of these efforts, chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix and IAEA general director Mohammed El Baradei visited Baghdad last week.
As of today, 19 Russians have been selected who may join international inspections in Iraq at further stages, the source said.