BAGHDAD -- The most popular foreigner in Baghdad this week is Nikolai Kartuzov, the new Russian ambassador whose country has become the leading advocate of Iraq's cause in the UN Security Council.


He presented his credentials Friday and accompanied Moscow's Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev to meet President Saddam Hussein.


He has since spun through a whirl of talks with top officials, including Izzat Ibrahim, vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council.


The official press sings Russia's praises every day, even though Kozyrev's efforts as a go-between on sanctions have been cold-shouldered by the United States.


"President Saddam Hussein has ordered that relations with Russia be developed because of the positive return these relations will have for both," Industry Minister Hussein Kamel Hassan told Iraqi newspapers.


Iraq was a longtime friend, trade partner and arms customer of the Soviet Union until the 1990 invasion of Kuwait brought sweeping UN trade sanctions, which are still in force, crippling the economy and bringing great hardships to the Iraqi people.


Although the Russian -- formerly Soviet -- Embassy has remained open throughout under a charg? d'affaires, Kartuzov's arrival, with little advance publicity, fills a post effectively vacant since the Gulf War.


The appointment has been treated in the Moscow press as a sign that Russia wants warmer relations.


"Russia strives to lift the embargo, alleviate the suffering of the (Iraqi) people and preserve Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Kartuzov told Iraqi newspapers, which made clear they liked what they heard.


He said he also hoped to "fill the vacuum in Russian-Iraqi ties in economic, commercial and industrial spheres."


When sanctions do end there are attractive trade deals in prospect for Russia, and a promise that Iraq will repay debts estimated at up to $8 billion.


At the time of this month's crisis Oil Minister Safa Hadi Jawad was visiting Moscow.


He told the Iraqi News Agency on his return that the two countries would begin technical studies of possible oil projects in Iraq.


Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh, another of the officials the new ambassador saw this week, was in Moscow last month and signed a tentative agreement on economic and commercial ties to be used when sanctions end.