But the encounter resembled more an academic discussion than a strategy session and ended without a joint declaration from Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Putin said in a speech at the Saint Petersburg Law Faculty that the three leaders, who strongly opposed the US-led drive on Baghdad without UN approval, agreed that only the United Nations can oversee the rebuilding of Iraq.

"The United Nations must play a central role to assure Iraq's sovereignty," said Chirac.

"The UN Security Council must confer legitimacy" on any reconstruction efforts, said Schroeder, who was awarded an honorary law degree from the university, where Putin himself once studied.

In comments likely to further strain the already-tense relations with Washington, the three leaders said the future world order was at stake as only the United Nations can ensure that Iraq's reconstruction takes place within the framework of international law.

"We are talking about the structure of international security," said Putin.

"The United Nations is the only organization that rests on universal and cooperative notions," said Schroeder.

Russia, France and Germany furiously lobbied against a UN resolution that would have authorized military force against Iraq, arguing that disarmament of Iraq was being achieved by peaceful means through the work of UN weapons inspectors.

They have warned of the dangers of Washington and London launching a war without UN Security Council approval.

Chirac, who led the anti-war camp before the start of hostilities, spoke at length on the crisis that left both transatlantic and inter-European relations badly bruised.

"In the Iraqi crisis, the international community is divided ... The division was never the condemnation of a dictatorship ... Our difference concerned the way the world was to be managed, its crises and notably the crises of (arms) proliferation," said Chirac.

"What is at stake today is our capacity to give a solid foundation to a new world order," Chirac said. "No lasting international order can rest on a logic of power."

"To be credible, diplomacy must be able to be backed up by a military force," he said.

"The use of force is sometimes the price for peace, but in line with the United Nations charter it must be the weapon of last resort, when all other solutions have been exhausted."

Their comments will likely put them on a fresh collision course with Washington over the best way to handle the aftermath of the war.

Under Washington's plans, retired US general Jay Garner is expected to run Iraq's postwar interim administration.

After an initial phase expected to last at least six months, he would turn over the country's administration to an interim Iraqi authority made up of a broad spectrum of Iraqi political groups.

Although Putin Friday dismissed the notion that the meeting would further fracture transatlantic relations, some of his comments were less than conciliatory.

"We are not going to export capitalist, democratic revolutions," Putin said. "If we do, we're going to end up on a slippery slope to unending military conflicts. We can't let that happen."

The three leaders also talked about the Middle East peace process and North Korean crisis during their meetings in Russia's second city. The encounter had been planned as part of an annual Russo-German encounter, to which Putin invited Chirac last week.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a staunch US ally in the Iraq crisis, reportedly turned down a similar inviation and UN Secretary Kofi Annan cancelled his attendance after initially announcing that he would take part.

SPACE.WIRE