At least one of Putin's cabinet ministers dispute him.

[Lex]

From UPI article from March 2003:

Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said he was astonished by a U.S. request to freeze Iraqi bank assets.

"Under our legislation, we can freeze accounts if they are used to finance terrorism or money laundering activities," Kudrin said. "As far as I am aware, there are no facts linking Saddam Hussein's accounts in Russia to such activities."


http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030321-022040-6046r

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So Russia was resisting, in March 2003, shutting down Saddam Hussein's accounts held there because they didn't believe he was financing terrorism.

'Splain that, Pooty Poot.