US embassy cable - 03AMMAN1581

S E C R E T AMMAN 001581 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2023 
TAGS: PREL, MOPS, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: (S) REPORT THAT 20 RUSSIAN MISSILE TECHNICIANS 
RECENTLY ARRIVED IN IRAQ 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Edward W. Gnehm.  Reasons 1.5 (b,d) 
 
1. (S) On March 16, the First Secretary of the Thai Embassy 
in Baghdad, Prasidhi Sochiratna (please protect), contacted 
A/POL to request a meeting to "pass on some information from 
my Ambassador to your Ambassador."  Sochiratna said he had 
just returned to Amman on March 11 after a month in Baghdad, 
and had just completed the evacuation of Thai Embassy staff 
from Iraq. 
 
2. (S) When Sochiratna arrived to meet A/POL later on March 
16, he passed over a single piece of paper on which the 
following was printed. Begin quote: 
 
1. Twenty Russian missile technicians arrived in Baghdad on 
March 9, 2003.  All of them hold Russian diplomatic passports. 
 
2. They are not regular staff members of the Russian embassy. 
 
3. They travel in cars with Russian diplomatic license plates 
(No. 55).  The cars are not part of the regular cars used by 
the embassy prior to their arrival. 
 
4. They have Iraqi officials attached to them. 
 
5.  They have been taken to an undisclosed location in Iraq. 
 
End Quote. 
 
3. (S) Sochiratna said that he did not know the source of his 
Ambassador's information, but confirmed that he himself was 
not the source. 
 
4. (C) On a separate issue, Sochiratna also passed on that 38 
Thai students who are studying at Saddam University and 
living in dorms there have decided to remain and not take 
advantage of the Embassy-organized evacuation.  He said that 
most of these students are from poor areas of southern 
Thailand and are afraid that if they leave Baghdad now, they 
will never have the chance to finish their studies. 
Sochiratna asked that we convey to the appropriate U.S. 
authorities the fact that these Thai nationals remain at the 
university. 
 
 
 
 
GNEHM