0
LONDON, March 19: Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on Tuesday he backed Washington’s declared war on terrorism but opposed unilateral action against Iraq.
Ivanov insisted there was no evidence Baghdad was developing weapons of mass destruction, but urged Iraq to allow United Nations weapons inspectors to return to the country, possibly opening the way for decade-old UN sanctions to be lifted.
“Russia is against any attack on any country bypassing the United Nations Security Council,” Ivanov told reporters after meeting British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in London.
“This is our position of principle and has no direct relationship to our battle against international terrorism.
“We have no factual evidence supporting the statement that Iraq has or may have weapons of mass destruction or nuclear weapons. Nobody has ever presented this to us.”
US Vice President Dick Cheney is on a tour of Europe and the Middle East seeking to gauge support for possible US strikes against Iraq.
But he said in Israel that Washington had made no decision on any military action against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, whom it suspects of developing weapons of mass destruction.
The idea of military action against Baghdad has split the international community, with Russia balking at the prospect.
Iraq is signalling that it might readmit U.N. arms inspectors to avert a US onslaught, which Russia on Monday warned could inflame tensions in the Middle East.
OTHER DISAGREEMENTS: While Russia has readily joined the international coalition against terrorism, Ivanov said it still had areas of disagreement with the United States, not only over Iraq.
He did not voice outright opposition to US military advisers going to the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia, but added:
“At the same time it would be more logical if Georgia was expanding its cooperation with Russia, its direct neighbour, to combat this threat (of terrorism).”
He said Washington had ignored not only Russia, but much of the international community by withdrawing from the 1972 ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) treaty.
Ivanov did not touch on other recent irritants in US-Russian relations — rows over US steel import tariffs, a Russian ban on US poultry and concerns over US contingency plans to use nuclear arms against Moscow.
He explained that Russia was not forming foreign policy to make other countries happy: “Russia’s foreign policy serves Russian interests, and that is all it serves.”
He added that Russia wanted to strengthen its relationship with NATO through a proposed new joint council in which it wanted to be an equal partner with the 19 member states.
CHENEY IN TURKEY: US Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday began tough talks in Turkey, which has warned that any military action against Iraq could upset the entire Middle East.
Cheney, making the last stop on a 12-nation tour, began immediate talks with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer after arriving in mainly Muslim Turkey, a close ally of both the US and Israel.
The vice president has been touring the globe trying to drum up support for the US anti-terror campaign, amid wide speculation the Baghdad regime of Saddam Hussein could be the next target.
But Cheney has gotten a cool reception to striking against arch-foe Iraq, and Turkey has also repeatedly stressed it is opposed to any attack on its southern neighbour.
He will be holding after-dinner talks with Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, who warned on Friday that any action on Baghdad could destabilize an already volatile region.
“It would upset all the Middle East, the economy would suffer a lot,” Ecevit said. “It’s not a necessity to undertake a military operation.”
Ankara fears the economic fallout of such an operation would derail efforts to revive its faltering economy.
It is also concerned turmoil could break up Iraq and lead to the emergence of an independent Kurdish state in the north, which has been outside Baghdad’s control since the 1991 Gulf War.—Reuters/AFP
