Some Soviet Military Aides Remain in Iraq, BBC Reports

Some Soviet military advisers have remained in Iraq to help the Iraqi armed forces operate sophisticated Soviet-supplied equipment, the British Broadcasting Corp. said today.

The BBC radio said its exclusive report was based on information provided to academic analysts at Pentagon briefings. Moscow denied the report.

The BBC noted that Moscow had said all Soviet personnel had been withdrawn from Iraq.

The Soviet Union has pledged to apply U.N. sanctions against Iraq and has backed the Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force to evict Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

But some Soviet advisers, perhaps as many as 100, had been in Iraq for a long time and had built up a good relationship with the Iraqi military, the BBC report said.

They had elected to stay on and help maintain Soviet-supplied equipment, possibly including MIG-29 high-performance fighter aircraft and air defense systems, it added.

Analysts quoted by the BBC said the Soviet military establishment was generally at odds with the Foreign Ministry in wanting to maintain a longstanding close relationship with Iraq.

In Moscow, government spokesmen denied the BBC story.

“The last Soviet military adviser left Iraq on Jan. 9. This report is not true,” Defense Ministry spokesman Valery Myasnikov said.

“I want to state firmly that there are no (Soviet) military experts left in Iraq. It is not accurate information at all,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Vitaly Churkin said.