MOSCOW, July 24 (AFP) - Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Russian peacekeepers and energy industry experts were needed in Iraq, as he arrived in Moscow Saturday for a two-day visit, the Interfax news agency reported.
"We need Russian peacekeepers," Interfax quoted Zebari as saying, shortly after he landed at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.
But "Russia has no plans to send a peacekeeping contingency to Iraq", Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko told the press as Zebari held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
He added that even if the international troops were deployed under the aegis of the United Nations, "that would have no bearing...Russia's position on the peacekeepers is known, I don't expect any change on this point".
Russia opposed the US-led war in Iraq last year, has no troops there and has officially stated that it does not expect to send any.
The Russian media however this week claimed that President Vladimir Putin was holding secret talks with the US about sending Russian troops into Iraq. These claims were strongly denied by Russian defence and foreign ministries.
Zebari also said Baghdad wanted Russian experts to return to Iraq to help rebuild the country's economy. Russian companies working on reconstruction projects, especially in the electrical sector, pulled out of Iraq in May after several attacks and the death of two technicians.
"We want Russian experts to return to Iraq, as they did very good work there," the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted him as saying.
"Iraq intends to develop and strengthen its diplomatic relations with Russia which can help Baghdad in several ways, notably politically and economically, in rebuilding the country", he added.
Russian oil companies such as Lukoil, along with the Kremlin, have been particularly keen to reclaim Soviet-era oil interests in Iraq.
During his visit to Russia -- the first by a Iraqi minister at this level since the transfer of power on June 28-- Zebari is also scheduled to meet security chief Igor Ivanov.