February 10, 2003	Monday	Zul Hijjah 8,1423

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PARIS, Feb 9: Russia does not support the US goal of removing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power and believes a unilateral US strike would be a “big mistake”, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview.

“We don’t want to settle any score with Saddam Hussein,” Putin said, according to an advance transcript of an interview with France 3 television, taped on Friday in Moscow ahead of the Russian leader’s visit to Paris on Monday.

The UN does not include any steps that would allow us to change the regime in some country or another, he said.—AFP