Roundup: US President Appeals Russians on Iraq Resolution

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, September 21, 2002

Roundup: US President Appeals Russians on Iraq Resolution

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U.S. President George W. Bush was busy Friday with talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and senior officials in an effort to persuade the country to drop objections to a tough, new UN Security Council resolution against Iraq but there was no sign of a breakthrough.

Bush met with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov in White House's Oval Office following a 30-minute telephone conversation with the Russian leader.

Bush and Putin discussed the situation in Iraq, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters at a regular news briefing.

"The president talked about the need to make certain that the United Nations passed resolutions that are firm, that accomplish the goals of disarmament and don't let Iraq avoid responsibility,"Fleischer said.

The spokesman described the telephone conversation between the two leaders as encouraging but stopped short of saying that they have reached any new agreement on the issue.

"The president was encouraged," Fleischer said. "He said that President Putin is a world leader and that he wants to make certain that the United States and Russia work together so that whatever comes out of the United Nations is different from the resolutions of the past."

Meanwhile in Moscow, Kremlin press secretary Alexei Gromov said Putin told Bush that he wants the soonest return of the U.N. weapons inspectors to Baghdad.

"Putin emphasized that in the current situation it is necessaryto concentrate on the quickest possible beginning of U.N. inspection and monitoring activities," Gromov said in a statement.

He said Bush and Putin agreed to work closely on the Iraq issue both bilaterally and in the United Nations.

Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council along with Britain, China, France and the United States, has said that it wants to give the UN weapons inspectors a chance and believes no further UN action is necessary.

Bush has called on the UN Security Council to pass a new resolution demanding Iraq to disarm and allow UN weapons inspectors to resume their work without conditions.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday before US House International Relations Committee that any new UN resolution must make clear that any obstruction of the inspections by Baghdad would result in "hard consequences."

Powell made the comments as Bush asked US Congress for the authority to strike Iraq and repeated his vow to take action if the United Nations does not.

But US demand seems losing momentum and lacking support in the United Nations after Iraq made an offer earlier this week to allow the return of the UN weapons inspectors "without conditions" in a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Following Iraq's sudden offer to readmit international weapons inspectors, Russia, France and the entire Arab world all expressed skepticism about the need for a new UN Security Council resolution that the United States has sought.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the Russian foreign minister at the State Department Friday, Powell denied any rift with the Russians on the question of how to handle Iraq as some had suggested.

"We are in a conversation about how to bring Iraq into compliance with UN resolutions of the last 11 or 12 years. We are going to try to move forward together," Powell said.

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