Russia insisted today that Iraq wasproviding "adequate" cooperation to UN weapons inspections and thereport by the chief UN arms inspectors showed that they needed topursue their work.
As the United States called on the UN Security Council to faceits responsibilities and warned the inspections were "running out oftime," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mr Yuri Fedotov hammered homethe opposite message.
The report "does not mark thefinal stage in the inspectors' work in Iraq," Mr Fedotov said, incomments made shortly after the briefing.
"It is only a preliminary account of their work and sets out themain principles for the future. Inspections in Iraq must be pursuedin line with existing UN Security Council resolutions," he added.
The Russian diplomat said that the UN inspectors were getting"adequate" cooperation from Iraq in their search for weapons of massdestructions after two months of activity, but they needed moreinformation.
"The inspections are taking place with adequate cooperation fromthe Iraqis, who are providing timely access for the inspectors toall sites," he noted. "But at the same time there are questionsabout which UNMOVIC and the IAEA want to get more information fromthe Iraqis."