Why would the Russians give a crap about this stuff, were they worried that the Chechins would get their hands on it? Were there New Russian weapons in there that they didnt want us to find? Those are the only two things I can think of.
From Gertz:
The Russian arms-removal program was initiated after Yevgeny Primakov, the former Russian intelligence chief, could not convince Saddam to give in to U.S. and Western demands, this official said.
A small portion of Iraq's 650,000 tons to 1 million tons of conventional arms that were found after the war were looted after the U.S.-led invasion, Mr. Shaw said. Russia was Iraq's largest foreign supplier of weaponry, he said.
However, the most important and useful arms and explosives appear to have been separated and moved out as part of carefully designed program. "The organized effort was done in advance of the conflict," Mr. Shaw said.
The Russian forces were tasked with moving special arms out of the country.
Mr. Shaw said foreign intelligence officials believe the Russians worked with Saddam's Mukhabarat intelligence service to separate out special weapons, including high explosives and other arms and related technology, from standard conventional arms spread out in some 200 arms depots.
The Russian weapons were then sent out of the country to Syria, and possibly Lebanon in Russian trucks, Mr. Shaw said.
Russia sold weapons to Iraq. They didn't want to get caught.
For the same reason they didn't want us invading. Their markings were all over this stuff I bet.
This would give Putin great cover...forge an alliance..and allow for this fortuitous timing. Cooperation in an attempt to fight our collective enemy...Islam and islamofascist. Both countries have been hit hard by these monsters.