MOSCOW, March 3: Russia announced on Monday that it was ready to send military personnel to Iraq to take part in UN weapons inspections in an apparent bid to stave off the threat of US-led military action against Baghdad.

The deputy chief of the general staff, General Yury Baluyevsky, said Russian representatives had been dispatched to the UN Security Council in New York to discuss a role for the Russian military in the UN inspections.

“A team of experts from the foreign and defence ministries flew to New York yesterday to hold consultations on the practical involvement of Russian military in international inspectors’ continued monitoring in Iraq,” the top Russian defence official told news agencies.

The Russian announcement came after Chinese state media said on Monday that Beijing was willing to offer personnel and technical support to the UN inspectors searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

China and Russia, both permanent veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council, are seeking to avert a looming US invasion of Iraq and extend the work of UN weapons inspectors in Iraq. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said on Monday the latest report by chief United Nations arms inspector Hans Blix showed “qualitative” progress and the need for continued weapons inspections in Iraq.—AFP