Russia opposes a US military strike on Iraq but wants Baghdad to co-operate on disarmament issues, a senior Russian official said today.
"The Russian position is very well known. We are against military scenarios and the international community must endeavour to find a political solution" to Baghdad's problems with the UN Security Council, Deputy Foreign Minister Mr Alexander Saltanov said in Baghdad.
Mr Saltanov, speaking after talks with Iraqi Foreign Minister Mr Naji Sabri, was responding to a question about US threats to take military action against the regime of President Saddam Hussein, whom Washington accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.
A settlement should "obviously be based on Security Council resolutions . . . and this should include the resumption of Iraqi co-operation in the scrapping of mass destruction weapons along with the suspension and lifting of sanctions" imposed on Iraq for the past 12 years, Mr Saltanov said.
The Russian official said he had discussed with Mr Sabri "ways of finding a political solution to the problem" of UN arms inspections and the sanctions in force since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The two sides had agreed to "keep up consultations," he said.
Mr Saltanov arrived in Baghdad from Damascus last night as part of a Middle East tour also taking in Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
AFP