Russia Speaks Against US Strike Against Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 03, 2002

Russia Speaks Against US Strike Against Iraq

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Monday reiterated Moscow's opposition to the threatened US strike against Iraq and called for a political settlement of the issue based UN Security Council resolutions.

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Russia reiterated its opposition to the threatened U.S. strike against Iraq Monday, saying such an attack would complicate the situation there and destroy stability in the Gulf and Middle East regions.

"Any military decisions concerning Iraq would not only further complicate an Iraqi settlement, but also undermine the situation in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East," Russian Foreign MinisterIgor Ivanov told a joint news conference after talking with his Iraqi counterpart Naji Sabri.

Ivanov said he hoped the option of a possible military action against Iraq would never be raised to the U.N. Security Council, and "We would not have to apply our veto right."

The minister said Moscow wants a comprehensive political settlement to the Iraqi conflict based on corresponding resolutions of the U.N. Security Council. He said his talks with Sabri again proved that there are sufficient and broad possibilities for such a settlement.

Sabri arrived here early Monday as part of Baghdad's efforts to rally international support against the threatened U.S. attack on the grounds that it was trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

Russia has echoed Baghdad's demand for a diplomatic settlement and spoken against unilateral action.

Ivanov said Moscow supported the U.N. request that Iraq should make a clear guarantee that it would not develop weapons of mass destruction, or the missiles used to deliver them.

For this purpose, the UN weapons inspectors should return to Baghdad and help lift the international sanctions against Baghdad imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, he said.

Ivanov praised Iraq's readiness to invite the UN's chief weapons inspector Hans Blix to Iraq for "technical talks" on bringing the inspectors back, regarding it as "a step in the right direction."

Moscow welcomes the continuation of Iraq's dialogue with the UN Secretary General with the belief that such dialogue will lead the resumption of the work of international inspectors and, as a result, to the eventual lifting of international sanctions on Baghdad, he added.

Sabri said in response that Baghdad was confident that the future solution to the Iraqi problem would be based on relevant U.N. resolutions and international law.

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