As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council Russia could veto any measures brought to a vote by the US or Britain.

And at this point the measures that most concerned Tony Blair was the lifting of UN sanctions on Iraq after Saddam Hussein’s regime had collapsed in face of the British and US invasion.

Lifting these sanctions would allow all kinds of investment to flow into Iraq and would be essential to any reconstruction plans…

For his part Putin placed Blair in a pretty rough spot by bringing up the Weapons of Mass destruction and the fact that none had yet been found.

This meant that either the WMDs were still out there and unsecured and so the sanctions couldn’t be lifted or, and Putin only implied this part, they never existed and the US and UK had invaded a country without justification.

Putin’s reluctance here was very likely a negotiation tactic tied to the $8 billion the Iraqi government owed Russia, a debt he would very much want honored by whoever replaced Saddam.

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