He talked of Russia restoring its “great-power” status – a buzzword with the nationalists. And he spoke of the Arab world occupying a “considerable place” on Russia’s foreign-policy map.Since then the rumblings of disapproval in the West have died down. But Mr Primakov’s four years in command of the foreign intelligence apparatus fuelled Western suspicions that he would turn out to be more hostile than his predecessor.Detecting a nationalist mood in the country as he limbered up for an election campaign, Mr Yeltsin had sacked Mr Kozyrev because many Russians considered him to be too accommodating to the West. He owed his rise to his skill at adjusting to the prevailing political winds, quietly occupying the centre ground under Brezhnev, becoming more liberal under Mr Gorbachev, and more conservative under Boris Yeltsin.Such is his political flexibility that it was believed he would have remained in office had the Communist, Gennady Zyuganov, beaten Mr Yeltsin in July’s election. Russia has big strategic interests at stake in Iraq – including hopes for oil and gas deals – but Mr Primakov also has a personal involvement.The initial reaction of the West when this enigmatic man took over the Foreign Ministry veered between disappointment and dismay.His curriculum vitae was that of a man who had manoeuvred cleverly to the top through all the right jobs. He has been involved with the Middle East for 30 years, as a journalist, an academic, a spy- master, and a diplomat. Such is his knowledge of the territory – he speaks Arabic – that Mikhail Gorbachev dispatched him to Iraq before the Gulf war in an effort to mediate with Saddam Hussein.

Now, clearly, the gloves are off.The Iraqi question is one that Mr Primakov can claim to know well, and with justification. The United States will not have been surprised by Russia’s condemnation of its attack on Iraq, but it may well have been startled by the strong language used by Yevgeny Primakov, Moscow’s Foreign Minister. The assaults were “a very dangerous situation” which could have “catastrophic consequences”, he said

They could even lead to “anarchy” on the world scene. This does not sound like the Mr Primakov that the Western world has come to know since he left his office as Moscow’s chief spy master and took over from Andrei Kozyrev.
In nearly eight months in office, he has established a reputation for coolness and restraint. But we hope that it is the start of stability,” 65-year-old Hussain Rahim said, as he stood in front of the blown-out windows of a tailors’ shop and complained that armed men had stolen his car.Standing underneath the blast-ripped canopy over a shop that sold Turkish Pepsi Cola cooled with ice just brought in from the Iraqi Arab city of Mosul, one man said that he thought the time had come for reunification of the country.”We embraced America, but we saw nothing from them for the past five years,” said long-distance lorry driver Yagoub Othman “We used to approve of American bombing But now we don’t We are Iraqis, and proud of it.”. Some townspeople even thought that the Iraqi soldiers had behaved very properly.”There is little to eat and it’s very expensive. Small groups that formed to discuss the question agreed that while they still feared President Saddam, they were sick of the situation and would like to see a return to more central government, while keeping their federal Iraqi Kurdistan.Some feared the continued presence of Iraqi secret police, although their checkpoints, if they existed at all, seem to have been set up only on Saturday and Sunday.

It resulted from a break in the power lines between the rival Iraqi- Kurdish front lines. A local ceasefire had to be arranged before the lines could be repaired.The KDP also took down the Iraqi flags that had been flying beside the Kurdish flag above the parliament and the fortified old town that dominates the city – an apparent concession to foreign opinion shocked by their collaboration with President Saddam Hussein’s regime.Local opinion in Arbil was sharply divided over the weekend’s events. The same scene was repeated at many other houses and bases used by senior PUK officials in the city.Such places were often previously used by top Iraqi officials and had been damaged in the much more destructive PUK takeover of the city in December 1994, part of the factional infighting that has split Iraqi Kurdistan in two.KDP members were busily painting out prominent placards on former PUK buildings, while women walked for miles under the scorching sun, carrying buckets or water tanks to the few places where generators were pumping water from wells.Foreign aid sources said that it was likely that the electricity would be restored soon, since the power cut did not appear to be political in origin. “There is no reason for evacuation.”The mansion used by the PUK leader Jalal Talabani in the city had been wrecked and looted, with black smoke marks scarring the window lintels. Nobody disputed the KDP’s figure of fewer than 200 people killed and injured.A decision to position UN vehicles around the city as soon as the fighting had died down reassured people, encouraged them not to flee, and deterred guerrillas from committing atrocities, the UN sources said.”In this situation our presence is vital,” said the UN chief of security in Iraqi Kurdistan, the former Danish special forces colonel, Poul Dahl. At one checkpoint, a convoy of armed guerrillas was barred from entering, leading to angry scenes and the training of heavy machine guns on the guerrillas until they left.Thanks to the overwhelming force applied to the Saturday assault, backed by Iraqi light artillery and tank fire, the fight had been short and the damage to the city seemed minimal. Only a few shops, selling food, were open in the city.The KDP seemed in complete control of Arbil, and determined to prevent any looting by revenge-minded fighters.