MOSCOW, Sept 2: Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Monday raised the spectre of a Moscow veto in the UN Security Council over strikes on Iraq as he again warned Washington against launching a military assault to unseat President Saddam Hussein.

Flanked by Iraqi counterpart Naji Sabri following 15-minute one-on-one talks in Moscow’s foreign ministry guests’ mansion, Russia’s top diplomat accused Washington of harbouring political motives for ousting Saddam.

He said US President George Bush’s administration had provided no evidence to back up claims that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction.

“We have underlined many times that a military solution will not only complicate the Iraqi problem but also undermine the situation in the entire Middle East,” Ivanov told reporters after the meeting.

Washington has suggested that it may avoid the United Nations entirely should it decide to launch attacks, arguing that its actions would be justified by Iraq’s non-compliance with existing UN resolutions on weapons inspectors.

But should Bush decide to appeal to the United Nations, Ivanov for the first time made clear that Russia — which is one of five permanent UN Security Council members to have veto power — would say no.

“I hope that this question is not raised in the Security Council, that Russia’s veto will not be necessary. We think that the Iraqi situation can only be resolved through diplomatic means,” he said.

In one of the harsher condemnations to have come out of Moscow in weeks, he called the US threat “political” in nature.

“We are studying Washington’s comments about the inevitability of a military solution to the Iraqi problem. There has not been a single well-founded argument that proves that Iraq threatens US national security. These comments are political in nature,” he said.

Ivanov’s talks with Sabri came against the backdrop of sensitive Western press reports about Moscow diplomats’ secret meetings in Washington with senior Iraqi opposition figures.

The Russian foreign minister — never denying that such talks were held — played down the importance of the meetings and accused the Western press of “blowing up the story”.

Sabri for his part called the opposition figures “criminals who are wanted by the Iraqi authorities.

“Such contacts in no way affect the depth of our relations” with Russia, Sabri said.

The meeting came only hours after Ivanov was quoted as saying in a speech before Russian diplomats that Moscow supported “pre-emptive measures” against global terrorism, but only under UN approval.

Those comments strongly hinted of a reluctant acceptance of US arguments to launch a military assault aimed at unseating President Saddam.

The United Nations and other international institutions must “resolve existing problems — but it is even better to take pre-emptive measures”.

The world “has changed remarkably... and unfortunately these changes began with the tragedy in America”, said Ivanov in his morning comments.

Some senior Russian lawmakers close to President Vladimir Putin’s administration had earlier suggested that Moscow’s main interests in Iraq were commercial and that they have little interest in seeing Saddam remain in power as long as existing contracts are honoured.

Washington had earlier been concerned by Iraqi claims that it had struck a new 40-billion-dollar trading agreement with Russia.—AFP