LONDON, February 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Nearly 200 out of 659 British parliamentarians late Wednesday, February 26, voted in favor of a text condemning Prime Minister Tony Blair's position on the Iraq crisis, in an unexpectedly strong attack on plans for a war against Baghdad.

In a second motion, a majority of the House of Commons approved a resolution giving Iraq one "last chance" to disarm, although a notable 124 voted against it, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The resolution condemning the government's pro-U.S. Iraq policy was approved by 199 MPs, while a majority of 393 MPs voted against it.

A breakdown of the votes cast was to be made available later Wednesday evening.

British media, however, speculated that a substantial part of Blair's Labor Party was poised for a revolt against its leader, over his support for an attack on Baghdad.

"Unacceptable"

In a related development, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that any UN resolution automatically calling for war on Iraq would be unacceptable, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday. 

"We find it unacceptable to adopt a resolution that foresees the use of force," Putin told journalists after talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

He said that Russia's position on the Iraq issue remained unchanged.

"We must resolve this situation through peaceful means and make sure that Iraq complies with the UN resolutions," he added.

"We believe that the potential of (UN Security Council) Resolution 1441 is far from having been exhausted."

Germany also remained tough on the war option, saying that UN weapons inspectors should be given more time to do their work in Iraq.

"No Reason"

France, another war opponent, said Wednesday it would not need to veto a U.S.-British resolution on Iraq since the draft lacked sufficient support at the UN Security Council, and it warned that a war would divide the international community.

But President Jacques Chirac and senior officials stressed Iraq must show full cooperation without delay and start destroying banned Al-Samoud missiles by Saturday as required by UN weapons inspectors.

Chirac reiterated his country's position during a visit to Paris by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, one of Washington's strongest allies, saying: "We think there is no reason that justifies going beyond (UN Security Council) Resolution 1441 and so we are opposed to any new resolution."

At the same time, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said that the draft resolution submitted by Britain, Spain and the United States has failed to win the required nine votes from the 15-seat Security Council.

That meant "there is therefore no reason to evoke the hypothesis" of France using its veto, he said.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, too, said during a special parliamentary debate on Iraq that war "would divide the international community... (and) weaken the coalition against terrorism".

He added: "We are not ruling out war, but our fight is one for peace.... We do not want a new war of religions. We do not want a clash of civilizations. That is not how we see the planet."

The comments underlined the split among Western allies over the next steps to take in the crisis and confirmed the deepening division in the UN Security Council.