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Russia may back a `mild' U.N. draft

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW OCT. 11. Russia may support a new U. N. resolution on Iraq, but believes the existing resolutions are sufficient. In two days of talks in Moscow the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has failed to convince the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that the Security Council should threaten Baghdad with the use of force.

In a public rebuff to Mr. Blair, who said he had new evidence of Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction, Mr. Putin told a joint press conference after the talks on Friday that Russia had "no credible information'' in this regard, and moreover, had "not received such information from our (Western) partners.''

Russia has strongly opposed the unilateral use of force against Iraq by the United States. ``Apprehensions is one thing and hard facts is something different. We have no such facts, but we want to send the inspectors back to Iraq to dispel apprehensions and to rule out the very possibility that Iraq can produce weapons of mass destruction,'' Mr. Putin said. Mr. Putin did not rule out a Security Council resolution aimed at ``facilitating the work of U. N. inspectors'' in Iraq, even though he saw no special need for it.

``Baghdad has made concessions and agreed to receive a U. N. inspection without any conditions, given which we do not see any formal legal grounds for adopting a new U. N. resolution (on Iraq),'' the Russian leader said at a joint press conference with the British premier after the talks on Friday. ``Russia in favour of resolving the situation around Iraq on the basis of the whole package of U. N. resolutions adopted so far.'' Russian diplomats said Russia could support a new Security Council resolution on Iraq if it did not go beyond the previous resolutions and did not allow automatic use of force against Iraq if it created problems for weapons inspectors. The Russian President stressed that Russia has strong economic interests in Iraq that "date back to decades ago,'' and will defend them.

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