October 14, 2002	Monday	Sha'aban 7, 1423

ZAVIDOVA: President Vladimir Putin on Friday rejected Anglo- American claims that Saddam Hussein already possesses weapons of mass destruction and told Britain’s prime minister Tony Blair that the best way to resolve the conflict of evidence is not war, but the return of United Nations inspectors to Iraq.

With a tense Blair alongside him at his dacha near Moscow, the Russian president took the unusual step of citing this week’s sceptical CIA report on the Iraqi military threat to assert: “Fears are one thing, hard facts are another”.

At a press conference, during a break in the talks, Putin — praised by his guest for his “courageous” leadership — repeatedly stressed his concerns about Iraq and his willingness to back fresh UN resolutions if necessary.

Blair took comfort from that.

But his skepticism about the US-led drive for military action was palpable. After confirming his foreign ministry’s assessment that the British government’s Iraqi dossier “could be seen as a propagandistic step” to sway public opinion, he made it plain.

“Russia does not have in its possession any trustworthy data that supports the existence of nuclear weapons or any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and we have not received any such information from our partners as yet. This fact has also been supported by the information sent by the CIA to the US Congress.”

Evidently anxious to please his host and reinforce the international coalition the prime minister emphasized the importance of taking Russia’s economic and diplomatic interests seriously “at the top table”.

“There may be a difference of perspective about weapons of mass destruction, there is one certain way to find out and that is to let the inspectors back in to do their job. That is the key point on which we are both agreed,” Blair said.

Putin concurred. But he showed sensitivity to any suggestion that Russia’s economic contracts with Iraq — and its dependence on oil prices staying high — made the country’s position different from other states. “I have invited the prime minister here to discuss a range of issues, I have not invited him to an oriental bazaar,” he said.

British officials accompanying Blair gratefully seized on Putin’s apparent acceptance of eventual need for a new UN resolution if President Saddam repeats his past obstruction. But amid poor official interpretation of the president’s remarks, even that concession was disputed, though a British government spokesperson later quoted Putin as telling the prime minister that he “hoped the journalists understood” the importance of his admission that a new resolution may be required.

Putin also appeared to be leaving himself room for manoeuvre in the weeks ahead. “We do have apprehensions that such weapons might exist in Iraq.”

In his remarks, Blair said that “conflict is not inevitable”, but that the international community must give a “strong and clear signal” to Baghdad to comply with its demands.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.