"I can say one thing, that Russia will not support any decision which would directly or indirectly open a way to war against Iraq," Ivanov stressed

LONDON, March 4 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov refused Tuesday, March 4, to rule out Russia’s possible use of its veto power in the U.N. Security Council to avert a looming U.S.-led war on Iraq.

"I do not rule anything out, because the right of veto can be used by any permanent member of the Security Council including Russia," Ivanov said in an interview with BBC News Online.

"If necessary Russia can resort to using this right. Abstaining is not a position that Russia can take. I can say one thing, that Russia will not support any decision which would directly or indirectly open a way to war against Iraq," he averred.

"We have to take a clear position and we are for a political solution to the crisis over Iraq and weapons of mass destruction," he said, adding that those who favoured a military solution were making a mistake.

Ivanov expected U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohammed El-Baradei to make a report this week that would provide a timetable for continued inspections.

"On the basis of their reports we will put forward further actions... We and others will demand that inspectors continue their work on the basis of specific plan and specific dates," he said.

Ivanov underlined that Russia had made great efforts to ensure unanimity in the U.N. Security Council.

"In the past Iraq has exploited the differences in the Security Council. Unity provides the best guarantee of solving the problem of Iraq," he told BBC.

"At the moment I repeat there are all the opportunities to regulate the Iraqi situation through political means and to try to pretend that there are no such opportunities and to submit a resolution which can really lead to a split of the Security Council because the majority of the council at the moment are for a political regulation," he added.

The Russian foreign minister further denied that Russia’s stance on Iraq was driven by its economic interests, which include multi-billion-dollar oil deals signed with Baghdad, asserting that "international security and stability were the top priority."

Russia is one of five permanent members of the Security Council - along with the U.S., the U.K., France and China - which have the right of veto.

However, analysts say Moscow is unlikely in practice to do anything that would ruin the new warmth of its relationship with the U.S.

Veto Not Important With Majority For Inspections

Meanwhile, the French foreign ministry said Tuesday the question of whether France will use its veto at the Security Council to block a U.S.-backed resolution on Iraq is not at issue because the motion would in any case fail to win the necessary votes.

"We believe that a broad majority of the security council favours the continuation of weapons inspections. So the question of a veto does not arise," the ministry’s spokesman Francois Rivasseau told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The compliance with U.N. demands showed that "the inspections are yielding results," Rivasseau said.

Diplomatic officials in Paris said the most likely scenario at the Security Council was that the draft resolution proposed by the U.S., Britain and Spain that could pave the way to war on Iraq would not have the necessary support of at least nine of the 15 members.

Eleven members currently favour the continuation of inspections, officials said, though they said the number could change.

On Tuesday, Iraq destroyed three more Al-Samoud 2 missiles as well as a missile launcher and five missile engines, bringing the total of missiles destroyed since the weekend to 19.

Britain Claims 'Sufficient Authority' To War

"We are satisfied that we have sufficient legal authority in 1441…to justify military action against Iraq," claimed Straw

Britain, for its part, claims it has "sufficient legal authority" to go to war with the United States against Iraq without a new U.N. resolution, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Tuesday.

Speaking to the foreign affairs committee of the British parliament before talks with Ivanov, Straw told lawmakers that Britain would "much prefer" a U.S.-led attack on Iraq to be backed up by a fresh U.N. Security Council resolution.

But he added that as far as London was concerned, U.N. Resolution 1441 and others adopted before it were good enough under international law for the United States and Britain to act militarily.

"We are satisfied that we have sufficient legal authority in 1441, back to the originating resolution 660 (in August 1990) and so on, to justify military action against Iraq if they are in further material breach" of U.N. demands to disarm, he said.

"We would much prefer, if military action proved necessary, for it to be backed by a second resolution, and that is what we are actively seeking," he said.

"We've had to reserve our options if such a second resolution does not prove possible," he added.