Putin torn between risking ties with U.S. and jeopardizing interests in Iraq

MOSCOW, October 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Russian President Vladimir Putin called Friday, October 4, for the quick return of weapons inspectors to Iraq, after the Russian foreign ministry earlier said Moscow rejected the need for any new U.N. Security Council resolutions, as the U.S. Secretary of State announced the United States is in talks with Russia and others on post-Saddam Iraq.

"Russia and Chile agree that there is an urgent need to guarantee the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq through a full compliance with the corresponding U.N. Security Council resolutions," Putin said in a joint statement issued after talks with his Chilean counterpart Ricardo Lagos.

The statement, issued by the Kremlin, adds that the international community "had to guarantee the return of the international mission to Iraq in the shortest order."

Putin's comments came after key members of the Security Council insisted Thursday, October 3, that chief U.N. weapons inspector, Hans Blix, wait for "new orders" before starting work in Iraq. Blix said he would be bound by the Council’s wishes.

Earlier Friday, a top Russian foreign ministry diplomat rejected the need to draft any new resolutions on Iraq, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

"The existing U.N. Security Council resolutions on the Iraqi question are quite enough, and there is no need to draft new resolution whose demands step outside existing ones," Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov told ITAR-TASS news agency.

His comments came after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov discussed their standoff over Iraq by telephone.

The Russian foreign ministry said Ivanov then "reaffirmed the importance of continuing detailed discussion within the U.N. Security Council over this problem."

Russia has veto power on the U.N. Security Council and has consistently

Powell said consultations with Russia were taking place as U.S. officials drew up contingency plans for war on Iraq

 questioned arguments from the White House administration that Iraq had to face a tough resolution that threatened the use of force if Baghdad interfered with the work of weapons inspectors, AFP said.

Moscow said that existing resolutions are enough to open the way for verifying whether Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction and that any military strike should be based on the work of inspectors functioning under existing U.N. guidelines.

Washington, who insists that the use of force is the only option in the Iraqi crisis, is currently pressuring the U.N. and the Security Council to issue a new resolution that will male the use of force inevitable.

However, Ivanov hinted Wednesday that Moscow could still examine the possibility of a need for a new resolution on Iraq.

He appeared to be referring to a French proposal that would introduce two resolutions, one toughening the language on weapons inspections and a second on the threat of force, an idea that has already been rejected by Washington.

But Fedotov's comments Friday suggest that Moscow is again toughening its line, threatening to splinter the U.N. Security Council over Iraq.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday the United States was consulting with Russia and other nations about the economic and political implications of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's ouster, AFP reported.

Powell said the consultations were taking place as U.S. officials drew up "contingency plans" for possible military action to topple Saddam.

His comments to the U.S.-Russia Business Council came as Washington pressures the Security Council to draft a tough new resolution that demands that Saddam disarm but stops short of endorsing the stated U.S. policy of regime change for Iraq.

"If it is necessary to go in and destroy the regime, the United States and its partners understand the responsibility to move forward on this to put in place a regime that is representative of its people that would not have weapons of mass destruction," Powell said.

"There are economic considerations, considerations of regional stability and as we develop contingency plans ... we are taking fully into account the interests of the nations in the region and the economic impacts which such a transition might have," he said.

"We are in conversation with our Russian friends ... and we are taking into account their considerations as we do our contingency planning as we are doing with other nations in the region," Powell added.

However, he did not specify what the "considerations" of the other countries were or mention any nation by name other than Russia, but alluded to Iraq's "enormous potential" as an energy exporter.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher declined to elaborate on Powell's comments, but confirmed Washington was "in touch with all nations in the region and elsewhere" about possibilities for the future of Iraq.  

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