Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko reiterated in a statement on Saturday that there are no plans of sending Russian peacekeepers to Iraq, the Interfax News Agency reported.

The statement came after Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Mahmud Zebari, who arrived here earlier Saturday for a two-day working visit, said Iraq needs deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the war-ravaged country.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks withZebari. But Lavrov said the talks did not address the possibility of sending Russian troops to Iraq.

"This issue was neither brought up nor considered. There are nosuch plans," Lavrov told a news conference after the meeting.

Russia had strongly opposed the US-led war in Iraq last year, and has repeatedly ruled out the possibility of sending troops there.

Source: Xinhua