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Despite Congress Vote, World Opposes War on Iraq

Putin, left, with Blair

MOSCOW, October 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Russia will not accept a U.S. proposal for a U.N. resolution threatening the use of force against Iraq.

"The U.S. draft resolution cannot be accepted as a basis for a future U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq as it contains clearly unfulfillable demands," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said Friday, October 11.

"If we are to reach a new decision (in the Security Council over Iraq) it should reflect the views of all members of the Security Council, including Russia," the Agence France-Press (AFP) quoted Fedotov as saying in a statement.

The statement came after President Vladimir Putin held talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Putin told Blair that he thought a deal could be struck over a tough new U.N. resolution on Iraq.

"With this aim in mind, I do not rule out reaching a joint position (on the Iraqi issue), including a U.N. resolution," he added.

"We are ready together with our partners to search for ways to ensure the work of (U.N. weapons) inspectors in Iraq," Putin told reporters, flanked by Blair.

Russia has seen no evidence that Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction, President Putin said after talks with Blair.

"Russia does not have in its possession any trustworthy data which would support the existence of nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and we have not received from our partners such information as yet," he said.

The Putin-Blair meeting took place as U.S. President George Bush obtained authorization from Congress to wage war on Iraq, citing a "continuing threat" posed by Iraq's alleged weapons buildup.

The same argument was further substantiated by Putin’s Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov who said in a British press interview published Friday October 11 that Washington has failed to provide conclusive evidence to justify the need for an attack on Iraq.

World countries are against the war on Iraq

"Unfortunately, I have not found facts which could prove without doubt the presence (of weapons of mass destruction)," Ivanov told The Guardian.

"We do not have any data about either the financial or material support of the Iraqi leadership for international terrorists," said Ivanov, adding that requests for such data had been made at the highest level.

Ivanov dismissed speculation that Washington had offered a compensation package for the possible loss of Russia's economic interests in Iraq in the event of military action.

He insisted, however, that Russia could not be bought: "It is not a matter of bargaining," said Ivanov, who is considered Putin's closest confidant.

"We are sure that military force can be used only after all -- I repeat all -- political and diplomatic measures have been tried without any result."

He said Washington's "refusal to take into account the fact that the world is interdependent" and its determination to undertake "unilateral measures that do not resolve problems, but create new and unpredictable ones," imperiled U.S.-Russian relations.

The defense minister dismissed Anglo-American attempts to broker a new U.N. Security Council resolution and called for the immediate deployment of weapons inspectors in Iraq.

In Budapest, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said Friday October 11, "a military attack on Iraq must be the ‘last step’".

"The French solution (to the Iraqi crisis) allows the United Nations to impose its authority at each step and to demonstrate to the world, particularly the Arab world ... (that it is acting legitimately), in order to make it clear that the use of force is truly the last step," Villepin told a press conference.

He said he was optimistic a peaceful solution could be found despite the U.S. Congress authorizing Bush to use force against Iraq.

The Philippines is not prepared to join a U.S. military strike on Iraq, even as Manila remains committed to Washington's global war on terror, Malaysian Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said Friday October 11.

"We don't intend to participate in the war against Iraq, but of course will continue our firm commitment to support the global war against terrorism," Ople told reporters shortly after meeting with President Gloria Arroyo.

He stressed his government was "not obliged to support any resolution passed by foreign legislature" even as he noted that the U.S. vote did not set a specific timetable for any military force against Iraq.

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- are engaged in tough consultations over the framing of a resolution that would require Iraq to abandon its alleged capability for acquiring nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

Russia has previously consistently opposed U.S. demands for a resolution that would allow it to take military action if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein fails to allow complete unfettered access to U.N. weapons inspectors.

A U.S.-British draft resolution would give Baghdad seven days to declare all its alleged weapons of mass destruction programs or face military action, and another 23 days to cooperate fully with U.N. inspection teams.

Russia has expressed interest in a French proposal for a two-stage ultimatum: one resolution that would demand more effective inspections, and another later if necessary to green-light the use of military force.