Iraqi Payoff to Primakov Alleged

The New Yorker magazine reported that British and U.S. intelligence officials believe that Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov was paid off by Iraq to obtain strategic materials from Moscow to build up its nuclear weapons stockpile. Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh quoted high-level U.S. intelligence sources as saying Primakov received $800,000 in a wire transfer in November 1997. The New Yorker said a spokesman at the Russian Embassy in Washington denied all charges of corruption against Primakov. In the report, Hersh quoted one unidentified source as saying, “A payment was made. This is rock solid. . . .”