Russia's Ivanov has Kuwait talks on Gulf tensions

KUWAIT (Reuters) -- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov arrived in Kuwait on Saturday to discuss tension in the oil-rich Gulf region 10 years after the Gulf War.

The minister said before rushing to a meeting with Kuwait's ruler Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah that the situation in the Gulf would be discussed. He did not elaborate.

Ivanov said in a brief arrival statement that he would also talk about the more than seven weeks of clashes between Israel and Palestinians in which some 240 people, mostly Arabs, have been killed.

Prior to Ivanov's arrival, several Kuwaiti officials had said they were not aware of media reports of a Russian proposal to end the enmity with former occupier Iraq or form a regional security body with the participation of Iraq and non-Arab Iran.

Ivanov is on a regional tour and has already visited Iraq and held talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Kuwait has set conditions to consider improving ties with Baghdad almost 10 years after a U.S.-led military alliance forced Iraqi troops out of the Gulf Arab state.

Kuwait has said that Iraq should first implement all Gulf crisis-related United Nations resolutions, apologize for the August 2, 1990 invasion and release some 600 people, mostly Kuwaitis, missing since the 1990-91 crisis.

But Iraq has denied any knowledge about the whereabouts of the missing. Saudi Arabia, too, has so far rejected any direct dealings with an Iraq ruled by President Saddam Hussein.

Diplomatic sources said Ivanov was expected to also touch on what Moscow believes is aid to Muslim Chechen rebels from some groups in Kuwait and the region.

Kuwait is linked to the five U.N. Security Council permanent members, including Russia, with a joint security and defense pact.

Some Islamist politicians in Kuwait have said that explosives found with an alleged sabotage group arrested in Kuwait in recent days were for export to fellow the Chechens.

But security sources have said the explosives were to be used against several targets in Kuwait and the region, mainly U.S. facilities and interests.

U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen is due in Kuwait on Sunday as part of a regional tour and he is expected to be briefed on the plot to attack U.S. targets.

He has already said such attacks will not drive the United States from the region where it has a large military presence, including forces in Kuwait conducting operations over Iraq's southern no-fly zone.

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