MOSCOW, Feb 25: US arms control chief John Bolton said on Tuesday that Russia was still opposed to a US-led invasion of Iraq, after talks aimed at persuading Moscow to support a new UN resolution paving the way for military action.

“I didn’t detect any shift in their position,” the US under secretary of state for arms control and international security told journalists in Moscow.

Mr Bolton was wrapping up three days of talks at which he sought to persuade Russia to support a new draft resolution that Britain, Spain and the United States presented to the United Nations Security Council on Monday.

The draft resolution said Iraq had “failed to take the final opportunity” to scrap its weapons of mass destruction and recalled the “serious consequences” it faced under an earlier UN resolution passed in November.

At Monday’s Security Council meeting, Russia instead came out in support of an alternative French proposal to strengthen UN weapons inspections in Iraq.

Moscow has hinted it could use its veto as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to override any resolution aiming to authorize the use of force.

Bolton said that he had discussed various “procedural possibilities” with Russian officials, but failed to comment on whether Moscow was threatening to use its veto.

The United States hopes “not only that Russia not veto the resoluion or not abstain from the resolution, but that Russia support the resolution,” Bolton said.

Bolton said that the United States was still seeking to find a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis, but “whatever chance there is, slim though it may be, requires Security Council unanimity or as close to it as we can get.”

London and Washington were set to lobby the undeclared members of the 15-nation Security Council to back the draft resolution, which requires nine votes to pass.

Yet Bolton reiterated the US belief that “we do not need any additional authority from the Security Council to take any action.”

He said that US officials were also continuing to lobby France, which has come out as the staunchest opponent to US threats of waging war to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction.

“We have not written off any votes in the Security Council,” Bolton said, adding that a vote would “probably come in the next two weeks” after chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei present their next report to the United Nations.

North Korea and Iran also topped the agenda during Bolton’s talks with Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov, Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev and space agency chief Yury Koptev.

Bolton again urged Russia to end its nuclear cooperation with Iran, the oil-rich country which has denied US accusations that it is using its nuclear energy program to develop weapons of mass destruction.

The two sides discussed Iran’s recent announcement that it was mining uranium, as well as Tehran’s efforts to “acquire weapons of mass destruction and long-range ballistic missiles,” Bolton said, without revealing details of the talks.—AFP