February 5, 2003	Wednesday	Zul Hijjah 3,1423

MOSCOW, Feb 4: Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Tuesday to closely cooperate with his US counterpart, George Bush, on Iraq while stressing that UN weapons inspectors held the “key” to deciding the future of Baghdad.

“The leaders of the two nations spoke out in favour of continuing close cooperation on the Iraqi problem, together with other nations, within the framework of the UN Security Council,” the Kremlin said in a statement describing the Bush-Putin telephone talks.

It added that President Bush informed Mr Putin about Washington’s views on Iraq’s pace of cooperation with weapons inspections and disarmament on the eve of a key report to be delivered before the UN security council by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

President Putin reaffirmed Moscow’s view that weapons inspectors were the “key” to determining the future course of action on Iraq, the Kremlin said.

The two leaders’ exchange came hours after Moscow declared that it would “carefully examine” new US evidence on Iraq’s arms programme while stressing it had seen no evidence to justify military strikes against Baghdad.

“The United States has taken the initiative of calling a UN Security Council session to present additional information on the issue of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We will carefully examine this information,” Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said as he prepared to head for UN headquarters in New York.

Mr Ivanov stressed, however, that Mr Powell’s new information should have been passed first to the international weapons inspectors in Iraq who are verifying whether Baghdad is complying with UN Security Council resolution 1441 ordering it to disarm.

“It is the international inspectors who must examine it first of all,” Ivanov told reporters.

He added that Russia had been given no advance information regarding the additional evidence due to be presented by Powell.

Russia has been treading a careful diplomatic line over Iraq between its close alliance with the US-led global “war on terror” and Soviet-era ties to Baghdad which include massive investments in the country’s oil industry.

Moscow also wields veto power in the United Nations and is thus of key concern to the United States as Washington ponders whether to approach the Security Council for a second resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq.

Russia argues that a second vote would be instrumental in winning global legitimacy for an attack and was required by UN Security Council resolution 1441 — which was approved unanimously by council members.

In addition to Russian hesitation and a quiet stance on Iraq by fellow veto-wielding Security Council member China, Washington is encountering stiff opposition from France and Germany.—AFP