27 October 2004	Wednesday	12 Ramazan 1425

MOSCOW, Oct 26: Russia said on Tuesday it supported a UN ban on human cloning for reproductive purposes but said the question of whether that ban should also include research was unclear and required more study.

"There is a broad consensus in the international community on a ban on human cloning," Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov told Interfax news agency.

"At the same time, we believe a compromise must be found on another aspect of this problem - therapeutic cloning, which is an individual area of research and may prove useful in a number of fields, including healthcare," he said.

The issue of therapeutic cloning "is not as unambiguous" as that of human reproductive cloning, and "it would be a good idea to suspend debate on it for a while" as it is studied in more detail, Fedotov said.

The US, Spain and a number of other countries have pushed a draft UN convention that would enact a global ban on all forms of human cloning.

A rival proposal, led by Belgium and backed by many US allies would allow for therapeutic cloning but leave the matter up to individual nations to decide.

Russia shares the Belgian approach, Fedotov said, adding that a moratorium on human cloning was in effect in Russia.-AFP