A senior lawmaker said the capture of Baghdad by US forces was "predictable," but neither President Vladimir Putin nor his key ministers had issued any comment on the downfall of the Iraqi regime.

French President Jacques Chirac said in a statement that his country was "delighted at the fall of the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and hopes for a quick and effective end to the fighting."

Germany Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder welcomed the "joyous signs" from Baghdad, adding that "each day that shows the end of the war is approaching is a good day."

By contrast, neither Putin nor Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has commented.

The head of parliament's foreign affairs commission Dmitry Rogozin, quoted by Interfax news agency, said Wednesday that "no-one had any doubt about how the war will end."

Noting that Iraq had no advanced weapons and no effective air defences, he said that "no-one had any illusions about the fate of (Saddam's) dictatorship and its ability to survive."

Russia joined France and Germany in opposing US plans to launch a war in Iraq, indicating that like France it was prepared to use its veto on the UN Security Council to withhold UN approval of military action until all diplomatic means had been exhausted.

Putin had said before the outbreak of hostilities that the US-led campaign would be a "mistake" that threatened to destabilise the region.

Independent defense analyst Pavel Felghenhaur said Russia's initial silence could stem from shock at the swiftness of Baghdad's fall -- just three weeks into the war -- and could signal a crisis in Russian foreign policy.

"The way events unfolded was not at all expected by the leadership and the intelligence services are misinformed," the analyst said.

Russia "does not know how to act" now that its loud predictions of a protracted war with fierce Iraqi resistance have failed to come true, he said.

This is a "great crisis for Russia's foreign policy and for Putin," Felghenhaur said.

France and Russia would prove to be the big losers in the end, the analyst said, adding that they "must now find a new strategy."

Putin is due to meet Chirac and Schroeder for talks in Saint Petersburg on Friday focusing on the three countries' role in rebuilding post-war Iraq.

Like other European capitals, Moscow is insisting that the United Nations must play the leading role in the reconstruction of Iraq, although initial contracts have so far been only awarded to US companies.

Russia has traditionally regarded Iraq as a regional ally, and fears it may lose out on lucrative contracts in Iraq's major oil industry because of its fierce resistance to the war.

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