BEIJING, Feb 28: Russia warned on Friday it was prepared to use its veto at the United Nations to maintain world stability, as it voiced strong opposition to a proposed UN resolution authorizing an invasion of Iraq.

“Russia has veto power. If needed, and under the conditions of maintaining international stability, Russia will use its veto,” Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said in Beijing.

“Russia will not support a resolution or resolutions which directly or indirectly open the way towards a power solution of the Iraqi problem.”

As a permanent and veto-wielding member of the Security Council, Russia has long opposed a US-led attack on Iraq.

“The use of force should remain an extreme option,” he said.

“The Russian position is that the UN Security Council must be united, especially the permanent members.”

Kremlin sources were quoted by the TASS news agency as saying that Russia may use its right of veto when a new resolution authorizing possible military action in Baghdad is placed before the 15-member UN Security Council, possibly in mid-March, adding that “such a development is undesirable”.

Mr Ivanov, who left Beijing on Thursday afternoon, warned that if war was used to disarm Baghdad and effect regime change, the consequences would be far-reaching.

“If it is a question of using force to resolve the Iraqi issue, under these circumstances, there would be serious effects not only regionally but globally,” he said.

His comments followed a joint Russian-Chinese communique on Thursday stressing that a war in Iraq “can and should be avoided”.

While reiterating his opposition to war, the Russian foreign minister also said that UN weapons inspections in Iraq should continue.

The new UN draft resolution on Iraqi weapons inspections, jointly tabled by the United States, Britain and Spain on Monday, “is not needed” as UN inspectors are already there, he said.

Ivanov further accused Washington and London of inconsistently interpreting previous UN resolutions on Iraq, including resolution 1441, which opened the way for further weapons inspections, but was now being used as a resolution for “regime change”.

“In recent days the military operation against Iraq is posed like a step aimed at democratic transformation in the Arab world”, Ivanov said.

UN inspectors reached the three-month mark in their work in Iraq on Thursday, having made some 800 unimpeded visits to more than 600 sites.

Chief UN arms inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, have said they want more cooperation from Iraq, and are expected to brief the Security Council on March 7.

A negative statement is likely to be seized upon by the United States and Britain, as they build up more than 200,000 troops around Iraq and lobby for a new resolution that could authorize force to disarm Iraq.

Ivanov arrived in Beijing on Wednesday and held talks with Chinese Vice President and Communist Party head Hu Jintao and paid a courtesy call to President Jiang Zemin.

The two countries agreed that UN resolution 1441, which demands that Iraq fully disarm, and other resolutions on Iraq provided the necessary legal basis for tackling the issue.

They added that the Security Council should enhance guidance over weapons inspections and support the inspection work, according to the communique. —AFP