MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia will ask the UN to make use of Russian experience in dealing with environmental disasters in Iraq.
"Our proposals will be submitted to the Foreign Ministry before the end of this week," Russian Deputy Minister for Natural Resources Irina Osokina said at a news briefing in Moscow on Tuesday.
She also said that Russia has hi-tech equipment and vast experience in dealing with various natural and ecological disasters.
Kirill Yankov, the deputy minister for natural resources and chief of the State Environment Protection Service, said that his ministry and other agencies do not think the current military operation in Iraq will have any serious negative impact on Russia's southern regions, including the North Caucasus.
A Defense Ministry representative said that the military is closely following the situation in Iraq and does not expect any serious negative impact on Russian territory.
He also said that the allied troops apply high-yield bombs only in large cities and do not drop them on districts where oil fields are located. Therefore, no serious natural disasters are expected to occur, the Defense Ministry representative said.
This information was confirmed by representatives of the Russian Hydrometeorological Committee, who said hat the weather services of the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States are strongly cooperating and exchanging information. No reports regarding the ecological consequences of the Iraq war have been received, they said.