Russian, German foreign ministers want central UN role in Iraq: Kremlin

MOSCOW (AFP) Apr 10, 2003
The Russian and German foreign ministers late Thursday reiterated their wish to see the UN Security Council take on a central role in regulating the situation in Iraq once hostilities there cease, a Kremlin spokesman said.

Russia's Igor Ivanov and Germany's Joschka Fischer spoke by telephone on the eve of a two-day summit in Saint Petersburg between the leaders of Russia, Germany and France, expected to push for a prominent UN role in that country, RIA Novosti quoted the spokesman as saying.

Ivanov also had a telephone conversation with EU Commissioner for External Relations, Chris Patten, in which the two men made the same point, the spokesman added.

Paris, Berlin and Moscow formed an anti-war axis that was largely responsible for blocking Washington's attempts to get approval in the UN Security Council for its military operation in Iraq.

A Kremlin official said Thursday there would be no joint declaration on Iraq after the Saint Petersburg meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac.

SPACE.WIRE