MOSCOW: Russia said yesterday it wanted United Nations weapons inspectors to return quickly to Iraq to make a final ruling on whether the deposed regime of Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.
“Russia supports the completion of the (UN) mandate, in order to remove the uncertainty about the extent of weapons activity in Iraq,” Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said. “And until this is done, (the UN weapons inspections team) must continue its work.”
A decision to send weapons inspectors back to Iraq can only be reached by the UN Security Council.
Fedotov was speaking after a meeting with the acting head of the UN weapons inspection team, Demetrius Perricos, who has been holding two days of talks with Russian diplomats and security officials. Perricos replaced Hans Blix last year as head of the UN weapons inspection team that left Iraq before the US-led war was launched last March.
Russia opposed the war and stressed yesterday that its arguments had been proved right by US President George W. Bush’s decision to launch an independent investigation into pre-war intelligence that Iraq still had weapons of mass destruction.
Bush’s move came after the United States chief weapons inspector, David Kay, reported that stockpiles of unconventional arms had not exist in Iraq on the eve of the March invasion and resigned as head of the US-British Iraqi Survey Group searching for such weapons in Iraq.
Perricos for his part said he wanted to include Russia more closely in the weapons inspections process.
“We have been discussing the possibility of including in our network of laboratories for analysis of samples of chemical and biological (weapons) Russian laboratories,” he said.
But Perricos declined to directly address questions about Kay’s report and the political repercussions it is causing in both Washington and London.
“As you know, there have been previous statements from the Iraqi Survey Group that they have found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
“And of course that may have a certain continuation in the political area in the United States and elsewhere,” he said in reference to Britain, where Prime Minister Tony Blair has also ordered an independent investigation into intelligence used to justify the war on Iraq.
“So we will be waiting to see all the results of all the discussions that will take place,” said Perricos. “In the meantime, we will continue our preparation for a future return to Iraq.” – AFP
Last update on: 4-2-2004