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