Former Russian prime minister Yevgeny Primakov, whose career included journalism, diplomacy and spycraft, has died at the age of 85.

Saddam Hussein promised a Russian envoy that international inspectors will not be hindered in their work, the Russian Foreign Ministry today.

IRAQ has withheld a decision on a United Nations order to start destroying its Al Samoud 2 missile programme by the end of the week, but said yesterday that it is “serious about solving this”.

United Nations weapons inspectors today visited two sites in Iraq involved in producing and testing the Al Samoud 2 missile, which Baghdad has been ordered to destroy.