Russia and Germany tonight reiterated their wish to see the UN Security Council take a central role in regulating the situation in Iraq once hostilities there cease.
Russia's Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov and his German counterpart, Mr Joschka Fischer, spoke by telephone on the eve of a two-day summit in Saint Petersburg between the leaders of Russia, Germany and France, a Kremlin spokesman said.
The three governments are expected to push for a prominent UN role in Iraq.
Mr Ivanov also had a telephone conversation with EU Commissioner for External Relations, Mr Chris Patten, in which the two men made the same point, the spokesman added.
Paris, Berlin and Moscow formed an anti-war axis that was largely responsible for blocking Washington's attempts to get approval in the UN Security Council for its military operation in Iraq.
A Kremlin official said today there would be no joint declaration on Iraq after the Saint Petersburg meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac.
AFP