NOVO-OGAREVO, Russia, April 29 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair failed Tuesday, April 29, in a bid to persuade President Vladimir Putin to back lifting UN sanctions on Iraq, in his first meeting with the Russian leader since the end of the war against Baghdad.

Blair, on a lightning visit to Moscow, said however that the two leaders had agreed on the principle of a three-stage reconstruction process in Iraq in which the United Nations would have an important role, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

"Legally the sanctions were applied because of the suspicion that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. They can only be lifted if this point is clarified, and only the U.N. Security Council can lift them," Putin told reporters at his country residence west of Moscow.

The two hours of discussions on postwar reconstruction in Iraq also failed to bridge differences over weapons inspections in Iraq, which Russia believes must be carried out by the U.N. team headed by Hans Blix.

"Russia has stated and reiterates its willingness to support the activities of the U.N. inspectors," Putin said, adding that U.N. peacekeepers could be sent to Iraq to guard the weapons experts.

Putin noted with heavy sarcasm that "two weeks after the end of the conflict, no weapons have yet been found."

Pointing out that Iraq's supposed possession of weapons of mass destruction had been the stated reason for the conflict, he added: "Now we have to determine if these weapons exist, and if so, where. Where are Saddam's arsenals? Perhaps Saddam is hiding in a bunker sitting on a crate of weapons of mass destruction."

Russia is opposed to the lifting of U.N. sanctions, first imposed in 1990, for as long as U.N. weapons inspectors have been unable to verify that Iraq has disarmed.

Backed by France, it also fears that an end to sanctions would hand control of Iraq's immense oil riches to the United States.

The role of the United Nations was a key theme in the talks, requested by Blair in a bid to mend fences with Russia after several months of occasionally acrimonious dispute over the U.S.-led drive to oust the regime of Saddam Hussein by force.

Tacitly accepting that the two leaders had done little more than take note of their disagreements, Blair conceded that the exact nature of the U.N. role in Iraqi reconstruction still remained to be determined.

"The question is that it is not important whether the U.N. is subordinate to the coalition or if the coalition is subordinate to the U.N., but that they are working in partnership," he said.

Blair said that the first phase of a three-stage reconstruction plan for Iraq would focus on primary humanitarian needs.

The second would establish an Iraqi interim authority and the third would pave the way for an elected Iraqi government.

"And I see a role for the United Nations in each of these three steps," he said.

Putin said the proposal was "acceptable ... (providing) a good basis for our cooperation, to bring our positions closer together."

However he stressed that "the role of the U.N. and the Security Council should be made clear at each stage."

And he added that "a delay in the handover of power to the Iraqi people would be unjustifiable." Such a transfer "should happen fairly quickly."

Washington has sought to minimize the U.N. role in Iraqi reconstruction, also opposing a return of the U.N. weapons inspectors.

Britain was originally firm on the requirement that the United Nations should play the central role in Iraqi reconstruction, and at a Belfast summit with U.S. President George W. Bush on April 8 secured a guarantee that the UN would be given a "vital role".

Since then its commitment to the U.N. role has wavered, and Putin was expected to use Russia's leverage in the Security Council over the sanctions issue as a bargaining chip in his talks with Blair, both to obtain reassurances over Iraqi debt and Russian involvement in future oil contracts and to assert the primacy of a U.N. role.

The talks also touched on Middle East issues and Putin's planned official visit to London in late June.