BERLIN, February 9 (IslamOnline & news Agencies) – Visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed Sunday, February 9, that Russia is "almost completely in agreement" with the reported Franco-German proposal on “peacefully” disarming Iraq.

After talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the Russian leader asserted that U.N. weapons inspectors must be given more time and the additional means to carry out their work, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"All those who follow the evolution of the situation in Iraq can see that France, Germany and Russia are almost completely in agreement," he said.

According to German news weekly Der Spiegel, the Franco-German proposal stipulates sending thousands of multinational troops into Iraq to “monitor” weapons inspections, tripling the number of U.N. weapons inspectors, turning the whole of the Gulf state into a no-fly zone and appointing a permanent representative to follow up Iraq’s disarmament.

"We are committed to having international law prevail," Putin said, adding that it is "a good foundation for cooperation between our countries" on the Iraq issue.

"We both agree that the current system of controls and sanctions in Iraq function and that they must be improved and broadened," said Schroeder.

The two leaders agreed that Iraq must cooperate more with U.N. weapons inspectors so that a "peaceful disarmament" could happen and said that war against Baghdad could not be justified.

"At the moment there is no basis for resorting to the use of force," Putin stressed.

"We are certain that a unilateral military intervention would cause thousands of casualties and escalate tensions in the region," he added.

Russia and France are permanent veto-holding members of the U.N. Security Council.

Germany joined the body as a non-permanent member last month and assumed its rotating presidency on February 1.

Germany opposes military action against Iraq and has said that it will not vote for it in the Security Council.

The German public is also overwhelmingly opposed to any U.S.-led war on Iraq even if mandated by the U.N.

Putin said Moscow wants U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and his inspectors to "examine very closely the information" presented to the Security Council by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell last Wednesday.

But he also lashed out at critics who equated any opposition to military action with anti-American sentiment.

Security was high for his visit, which was met by a protest by some 150 people against Russia's military aggressions in Chechnya.

The Kremlin leader also attended a ceremony marking the start of a year of cultural exchange between Russia and Germany.

Putin is due to go to Paris Monday, February 10.

President George W. Bush laid down new warnings to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the United Nations, warning the former that the United States would move militarily to disarm him and the latter that it faced a "a moment of truth" and risked irrelevancy by inaction.

"The inspectors have gone to Iraq and it is clear that not only is Saddam Hussein deceiving, it is clear he's not disarming," Bush told Republican lawmakers at a retreat in West Virginia.

"It's a moment of truth for the United Nations," he said.

"The United Nations gets to decide shortly whether or not it is going to be relevant in terms of keeping the peace, whether or not its words mean anything."

Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice each said they had not seen the Franco-German proposal personally, but both said that, from what they understood, the plan would serve only as a "diversion" from the U.N. demands.

Making the rounds of the U.S. Sunday morning talk shows, Powell and Rice also had harsh words for a threatened veto by Belgium, France and Germany of NATO plans to begin preparations for a conflict that would focus on defending alliance member Turkey.

"The issue is ... not for inspectors to play detectives or Inspector Clouseaus running all over Iraq looking for this material," Powell said

Powell called such a move "inexcusable" while Rice said it was "not a serious position" and underlined the growing isolation, particularly of France and Germany, in Europe where, she claimed, a majority of nations have offered support for U.S. plans for a possible war.

Their comments, which followed similar critical remarks from U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, underscored Washington's deep shock at increasingly vociferous anti-war stances in Paris and Berlin.

At one point, Powell, perceived as the most pro-European member of Bush's cabinet, made what appeared to be a derisive anti-French remark about France's insistence that the number of U.N. weapons inspectors be multiplied.

"The issue is ... not for inspectors to play detectives or Inspector Clouseaus running all over Iraq looking for this material," Powell said, referring to the bumbling French Surete officer portrayed on screen by Peter Sellers.

Powell said the reported proposal appeared to be a "variation" of a previous proposal by the French foreign minister, which he said "missed the point."

"It's the wrong issue," Powell told NBC television.

"The issue is not more inspectors," he said. "The issue is compliance on the part of Saddam Hussein. This idea of more inspectors, or a no-fly zone, or whatever else may be in this proposal that is being developed, is a diversion not a solution."

Both Powell and Rice said the reported Franco-German plan avoided necessary discussion of the "serious consequences" the U.N. Security Council said Iraq would face if it did not comply with Resolution 1441 which demands that Baghdad disarm.

"It would be a diversion if we start to move away from 1441," Rice told CBS television.