Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Jacques Chirac this evening reiterated their conviction that UN diplomatic efforts were necessary to resolve the Iraqi crisis.
"Both sides stressed the necessity to continue with diplomatic efforts within the UN framework despite the serious escalation in the situation," the Kremlin said in a statement following the telephone talks between the two leaders.
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Russia and France last week joined Germany in a last-ditch effort to avoid war by urging the Security Council to draw up a disarmament task list, binding Iraq to strict deadlines Baghdad must keep to preserve peace.
Paris, Berlin and Moscow said that the inspections process imposed under UN Resolution 1441 last November was working and could be toughened up in order to force Baghdad's disarmament of its alleged weapons of mass destruction.
The proposal would come before the Security Council on Wednesday, Russia's envoy to the United Nations, Mr Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying by the ITAR-TASS news agency.
UN weapons inspectors confirmed that "Iraq is most active in its cooperation with the monitors, gave them access to lots of documents about the banned weapons it destroyed," Mr Lavrov said, adding that most Security Council members "were disappointed by US and British refusal to continue diplomatic efforts."
AFP