Russia, France, Germany Stress UN Role in Post-war Iraq

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia, France and Germany are calling for a "central role" of the United Nations in post-war Iraq reconstruction.

Putin was speaking in a joint press conference after talks in the city of Saint Petersburg with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac.

He said that the three-way summit is not aimed at breaking up the international community but searching for a resolution that would be accepted by all involved parties, according to Itar-Tass report.

Russia, France and Germany -- main European countries opposing to the US-led war against Iraq -- have tried hard but failed to prevent the US-British coalition from staging military attacks on Iraq.

Putin pointed out that the US-led war against Iraq has failed to achieve its goal of disarming that country.

"If only talking about the legitimacy (of the war in Iraq), there should be a sole task -- to disarm Iraq," Putin said, adding that "this goal has not been achieved."

He emphasized that Saddam's regime did not use weapons of mass destruction even at its dying moment.

"If in the last moment of its existence it did not use them, it means they do not exist. Or they were in such condition they could not be used. That raises the question of the expediency of the whole action," Putin noted.

The Russian president also urged that the international weapon inspection staff should return to Iraq.

Any discovery of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq "can not be regarded as legitimate without the presence of the inspectors,"Putin noted.

Earlier, Putin described the fall of Saddam regime is a positive result of the US-led war in Iraq while criticizing bringing him down by military means that caused "losses, destruction and human deaths."

One cannot resolve the problem by means of war and "only nations themselves should determine their fate," Putin said at a forum of German and Russian politicians and businessmen. He said the system of international law had also been undermined by the war.

Putin also told reporters after talks with Chirac and Schroeder that Russia is ready to discuss a write-off of Iraq's debts. Russia is owed some 8 billion US dollars in Soviet-era debt by Baghdad.

Putin's remarks came a day after US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz suggested that Russia, France and Germany consider writing off their debts to postwar Iraq to help rebuild the battered economy.

The meeting between Putin, Chirac and Schroeder took place two days after US President George W. Bush and his steadfast ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair met in Belfast.

Russia has said the meeting is not a response to the Bush-Blair Belfast summit, hinting at the anti-war triangle's desire to continue cooperation with the United States.


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