MOSCOW, February 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Russia firmly declared Friday, February 7, that it would fight U.S. President George W. Bush's call for a tough new United Nations resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq should Baghdad fail to disarm, as Russian President Vladimir Putin heads for France and Germany.

"Today, we see no basis for adopting a U.N. Security Council resolution that would open the way for the use of force against Iraq," Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said.

Ivanov's comment came in response to a tough statement by Bush who said Thursday, February 6, he was willing to seek a new U.N. resolution clearing spelling out conditions under which force could be used to force Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to disarm, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Russia stressed that future action on Iraq should depend on the new report that U.N. weapons inspectors working in the country are due to present to the U.N. Security Council on February 14.

"Security Council resolutions must be aimed at resolving the Iraq problem not aggravating it," Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov as saying.

The statement by Fedotov implied that Moscow views Bush's support for a new U.N. vote on Iraq as little more than a call to arms.

Moscow and Washington have, in effect, altered their positions on a possible second U.N. vote to follow resolution 1441, which the Security Council approved in November 2002.

Resolution 1441 demands that Iraq disarm any weapons of mass destruction or face unspecified serious consequences.

The Bush administration had until now adamantly insisted that existing U.N. calls on Iraq to disarm - and Baghdad's alleged failure to do so - were enough for Washington to legitimately use military force against Iraq.

But Bush dramatically reversed the situation late Thursday, declaring: "The United States would welcome the support of a new resolution which makes clear that the Security Council stands behind its previous demands."

"And the U.S. together with a growing coalition of nations is resolved to take whatever action is necessary to defend ourselves and disarm the Iraqi regime," said Bush.

Moscow, for its part, was insisting up until earlier this week that "one or several" U.N. resolutions might still be needed before force could legitimately be used against Iraq.

Iraq is a Soviet-era ally of Moscow and Russia has massive oil investments there that it is fearful of losing to Western powers in case of war.

Now Russia is resisting a new U.N. resolution, an indication of Moscow's concern at Washington's motives for seeking one and caution that a new U.N. vote could indeed pave the way for war.

While Fedotov conceded that Iraq must do more to avert a U.S.-led war, he also sternly warned Washington against seeking military conflict unless all other options failed.

He said the White House should understand that most global powers agreed with Moscow's view that the use of force must be a last resort and only if all diplomatic initiatives failed.

"Russia intends to continue keeping to this line," stressed the diplomat.

Putin in "Old Europe"

In another development, while Putin is seen as a close Washington ally in the "war on terror," Moscow's close scrutiny of U.S. threats against Iraq also link it to "old Europe," where Germany and France are to host the Russian president.

The spiraling Iraqi crisis will dominate Putin's talks Sunday with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his Monday meeting with French President Jacques Chirac.

Russia, France and Germany have adopted remarkably similar responses to the report on Iraq U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell made to the U.N. Security Council Wednesday, February 5.

All three have voiced skepticism about Powell's "proof" that Iraq has a program to develop weapons of mass destruction and have insisted that U.N. arms inspectors seeking evidence in Iraq be allowed to continue their mission.

The common stance was further sealed by Paris and Moscow late Thursday, with Putin and Chirac agreeing during telephone talks that they shared a common approach and that only diplomacy could resolve the Iraqi crisis.

"After discussing the results of the U.N. Security Council session on Iraq, the two nations' leaders noted that the positions of Russia and France correspond, and stand in favor of solving the Iraqi problem through political-diplomatic means," the Kremlin said in a statement.

France and Germany came under fire last month from U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who dubbed the two countries as part of "old Europe" at odds with other states - mostly in eastern and central Europe - who strongly back Washington.

But unlike Berlin and Paris, Moscow has been spared Washington's most cutting comments in part, according to analysts, because of Putin's decision to buck public opinion at home and support the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan.

Still Putin will have to tread carefully in Berlin and Paris, wedged as he is between Washington and the European Union - Russia's major economic partners - and Russian public opinion, which is strongly anti-U.S. and opposed to war.

Putin's brief visit to Berlin is part of Russian efforts to build a broader partnership with Germany.

It will launch the "Russo-German cultural meetings, 2003-04" which Putin initiated together with his formal German counterpart, Johannes Rau.

After attending a Saint Petersburg philharmonic orchestra performance with Rau, Putin will hold talks with Schroeder, a bitter opponent of any war on Iraq, with or without a U.N. mandate.

On Monday, the Russian leader will begin a three-day visit to France, where he will meet Chirac.

The two leaders are due to approve a political strategy statement and ink accords on energy imports and prisoner transfer.

The transfer agreement allows Russian and French citizens sentenced to jail terms in each others' country to serve those sentences in their native land.

Putin will also seek to improve the Kremlin's image in the eyes of the French public, which for the large part condemns Moscow for its war in Chechnya, now in its fourth year.

While formal relations between Paris and Moscow are warm, events such as the Moscow theater hostage drama last year have not improved Putin's image in France.

More than 120 of the 800 hostages died in the theater crisis when Russian special forces pumped a powerful gas into the building to subdue their Chechen captors.

Putin may repeat his argument that, with more than 800 hostages in Chechen independence-seeking fighters’ hands and the threat of a bomb attack, even such a high casualty toll could be considered a positive outcome.