Moscow Opposes Any New UN Resolution Against Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, September 25, 2002

Moscow Opposes Any New UN Resolution Against Iraq

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Tuesday Moscow was firmly against any new Security Council resolution against Iraq, saying such thing could further complicate the situation.

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Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Tuesday Moscow was firmly against any new Security Council resolution against Iraq, saying such thing could further complicate the situation.

"We believe that it is necessary to fulfill those UN resolutions on Iraq that exist and not to adopt new ones that could complicate the situation," Ivanov said in an interview published in Tuesday's Russian daily of Vremya MN.

He made the remarks following a US proposal that the United Nations Security Council should adopt a new resolution to keep pressure on Iraq. The United States remains skeptical about Iraq's recent offer to allow international arms inspectors back to Baghdad to resume their work. Washington has repeatedly accused Iraq of developing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorism.

The minister said a group of United Nations weapons inspectors and Iraqi representatives would hold consultations on September 30.

"They will discuss purely technical issues, and if everything goes right, inspectors could leave for Iraq as early as before October 15," he added.

Ivanov said the main question those inspectors must answer is the status quo of Iraq's biological weapons program.

"If the world community acted coordinately rather than unilaterally in this area, it would be possible to get Iraq's agreement to have its weapons programs controlled, and attain many other goals as well," he stressed.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said on the same day Moscow's original and consistent stand over the Iraq issue was to fully implement relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

The international inspectors had visited some 700 facilities and conducted about 7,000 inspections in Iraq during the past eight years, the spokesman told a roundtable meeting.

"Even former US President Bill Clinton admitted that the inspectors destroyed more weapons than Operation Desert Storm," he said, referring to the US-led 1991 Gulf War against Iraq to force its withdrawal of troops from Kuwait.

What counts most now is the return to Iraq of the inspectors, as only specialists could clearly determine whether Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction or not," he said.

If the inspectors do not find such weapons in Iraq, the UN commission should issue a corresponding conclusion -- "this would, of course, open the prospect for lifting the sanctions against Iraq," he said.

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