The United States and Russia remained at odds yesterday over possible use of force in the crisis with Iraq, and Moscow sounded a warning that a military strike could damage Russian-US defence ties.
I would like to relay to you our deep concern over the possible prospects for Russian-US relations in the military field, especially if military action occurs, reporters heard Russian defence minister Igor Sergeyev tell visiting US defence secretary William Cohen at the start of talks in Moscow.
Cohen said earlier that both sides agreed on the need to seek a diplomatic solution to the standoff over UN arms inspectors.
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Basically we are in agreement. We think that the best solution is the diplomatic solution but one that must really comply with UN mandate and UN resolution requirements, Cohen told an interviewer on NBCs Today show. But he added: There is a disagreement on whether or not military power can be used to enforce diplomacy.
Cohen, who arrived in Moscow on Wednesday evening after a tour of Gulf states, said he had discussed the Iraq crisis with Andrei Kokoshin, secretary of President Boris Yeltsins advisory defence council. He gave few details of the meeting. Russia strongly opposes US contingency plans to bomb Iraqi sites if Baghdad does not open them to inspections.
Russian determination to find a diplomatic solution was underlined when the Palestinian ambassador revealed yesterday that Moscow was working on a new proposal to try to end the crisis and a swift Iraqi response was expected.
Iraq ought to agree to the proposal, an embassy spokeswoman said, quoting the ambassador. She made clear the ambassador did not know what Baghdads answer would be and she declined to give details of the proposal.
Its a new Russian initiative which, according to our information, should be finalised in the next few hours. Final work is being done on it and in a few hours it will be announced officially, the spokeswoman said.
She made clear a quick Iraqi response was expected and said Palestinian officials supported the proposals.
Russia has sent a high-ranking envoy to Baghdad to try to negotiate a compromise between the United Nations and Iraq. But the United States has rebuffed Baghdads latest offer to open eight suspected weapons sites to inspection for 60 days.
The Russian Foreign Ministry reacted fiercely to a Washington Post report that UN inspectors had found evidence of a Russian deal to sell Iraq equipment that could be used to develop biological weapons.
We decisively deny these crude inventions, foreign ministry spokesman Gennady Tarasov told a news briefing. Russia has never made any deals with Iraq that would violate international sanctions, moreover deals involving supplies of banned technologies.
The Washington Post quoted unnamed sources as saying the inspectors seized a confidential document in Iraq late last year. It said the United Nations requested information from Moscow on the matter six weeks ago but had received no reply.
In the time since the (Washington Post) article was published we have learned that such a request exists, Tarasov said. But it was sent on February 8, not six weeks ago.
Meanwhile statements of concern about the continuing standoff some conciliatory, some more pugnacious continued to flow from Middle Eastern and European capitals.
In Baghdad, a U.N. spokesman said on Thursday that a military strike on Iraq could disrupt the flow of supplies under the countrys oil-for-food programme.
If anything were to occur, its fair to say the government will continue to distribute food here for as long as it can and we will do the same in the north, Eric Falt, spokesman for the Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (UNOHCI), told a news briefing.
Of course we greatly fear that the flow of commodities could be interrupted at some stage if hostilities break out.
Under the oil-for-food deal, the United Nations distributes food in Kurdish-held northern Iraq, while the Baghdad government handles distribution elsewhere.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, speaking in Cairo, said he believed the door was still open for a political solution.
I think the door is still open for political efforts.
Sahaf was speaking to reporters after a meeting in Cairo with Arab League Secretary-General Esmat Abdel-Meguid.
In Rome, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said in an interview with La Repubblica newspaper that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein must allow full U.N. weapons inspections at all sites or war would be inevitable.
The U.N. inspections must be extended to all Iraqi territory and must be absolutely transparent. Otherwise, conflict military will not be avoidable, Prodi said.
Britain, the strongest backer of the U.S. threat of force, on Thursday described a compromise proposal from Baghdad for settling the crisis as absolutely hopeless but said diplomatic efforts would continue.
Prime Minister Tony Blairs official spokesman said Blair used the phrase at a 40-minute cabinet meeting to describe an Iraqi proposal that would allow U.N. inspectors a one-off visit to suspected weapons sites.
Blair told the cabinet that one presidential site was a military compound the size of Paris and the Iraqi compromise proposals were just not good enough.
Earlier, British Defence Secretary George Robertson told television interviewers that the pressure on Iraq was starting to produce results.
He (Saddam) is making moves now. Diplomacy is starting to work...its only working because there is a credible threat of force as a last resort option, Robertson told Sky television. I want diplomacy to succeed. I want him to comply. I do not want to see military action.
Reflecting divided opinion within Europe, the French Foreign Ministry insisted on Thursday that Paris was not isolated from its European partners in the Iraqi crisis despite mounting signs that NATO allies were swinging into line behind Washington.
I see no differences but a great unity of views between the 15 European Union members, who all agree that everything must be done to secure a peaceful solution, spokesman Yves Doutriaux told reporters.