The Belarus Security Council denies rumors about its alleged military cooperation with Iraq.

In a report to Interfax, the press center of the Council's state secretariat quotes the British Daily Telegraph as charging Belarus in an article published on April 16 with military cooperation with Iraq, carried out in violation of the UN embargo on arms supply to that country. The article says Belarus intends to help Iraq upgrade its anti-aircraft defenses, modernize military equipment, and teach military specialists how to operate it. "The press center of the Security Council's state secretariat is authorized to declare that the claim cited in the newspaper does not correspond to reality. "The Belarus side has not cooperated and does not cooperate with Iraq in the military field," the press center said. "It remains regretful that such an respected newspaper as the Daily Telegraph carried untrustworthy information, disorienting the public and discrediting the peace-loving foreign policy of Belarus, which has always strictly observed UN resolutions, the norms and principles of international law," the press center said.