Moscow Renews Opposition to U.S. Strike Against Iraq
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Sultanov reiterating Russia's rejection of any military solution for the Iraq crisis and calling for political compromise.
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BAGHDAD,
July 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Russia opposes a U.S.
military strike on Iraq but wants Baghdad to cooperate on disarmament
issues, a senior Russian official said in Baghdad Thursday, July 25.
“The
Russian position is very well known. We are against military scenarios
and the international community must endeavor to find a political
solution” to Baghdad's problems with the U.N. Security Council,
visiting Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov told reporters.
Saltanov,
speaking after talks with Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri, was
responding to a question about U.S. threats to take military action
against Iraq and try to unseat the regime of President Saddam Hussein,
whom Washington accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
A
settlement should “obviously be based on Security Council
resolutions ... and this should include the resumption of Iraqi
cooperation in the scrapping of mass destruction weapons along with
the suspension and (subsequent) lifting of (U.N.) sanctions” imposed
on Iraq for the past 12 years, Saltanov said.
The
Russian official said he had discussed with Sabri “ways of finding a
political solution to the problem” of U.N. arms inspections and the
sanctions in force since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The
two sides had agreed to “keep up consultations,” he added.
Saltanov
arrived in Baghdad from Damascus late Wednesday, July 24, as part of a
Middle East tour also taking in Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and
Turkey.
Sabri’s
third round of talks this year with U.N. chief Kofi Annan, held in
Vienna on July 4-5, failed to break the deadlock over the return of
U.N. arms inspectors, who have been barred from Iraq since pulling out
on the eve of a December 1998 U.S.-British bombing attack.
Annan
signaled on Wednesday he might not resume talks with Iraq unless it
showed willingness to readmit the inspectors.
“As
you know, we did not come to a successful agreement in Vienna, and of
course if they do not come back with indications that I’m looking
for, then of course we are not going to meet,” he told CNN,
referring to the inspectors' return.
Sabri
later stressed the “importance” of continuing the dialogue with
Annan “in a manner that guarantees the sovereignty and legitimate
rights of Iraq.”
Russia
has been vocally opposed to U.S. military action against Iraq but
favors the return of U.N. arms inspectors to the country in exchange
for lifting sanctions.
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