SAINT PETERSBURG, April 11: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday criticized the United States for failing thus far to uncover any of the weapons of mass destruction Washington has accused Baghdad of harboring.

Talking to newsmen, Mr Putin said: “Had I been in their place, I would wish I had found something. It is strange that nothing has been found yet.”

Speaking after talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac, Mr Putin said that until Iraq’s alleged weapons were found, the US-British coalition’s objective “has not been achieved.”

“Even in its dying throes, the regime did not use weapons of mass destruction. We still don’t know that it had any,” he said.

Washington said the threat represented by Baghdad’s supposed arsenal of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons justified its invasion of Iraq even without a UN mandate.

Russia, Germany and France bitterly opposed the US push for war, arguing that peaceful methods of disarming Iraq were proving successful and had not yet been exhausted.

UN weapons inspectors pulled out of Iraq shortly before the expiry of an ultimatum issued by US President George W. Bush to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, ordering him to leave the country of face military action.

The US has said it will form its own teams of weapons inspectors to seek out Iraq’s alleged weapons stockpile.—AFP