"Russia is watching the humanitarian situation in Iraq with growing concern," foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko told the state-owned Channel One television.

"Let us repeat that according to international law, occupation forces bear full responsibility for meeting the needs of the Iraqi people in the humanitarian field," he said.

Echoing a call Saturday by UNESCO chief Koichiro Matsuura on US and British authorities to immediately protect Iraq's cultural heritage amid lawlessness and widespread looting in Iraqi cities, Yakovenko said Russia was also worried by this aspect of the situation.

Coalition forces "are also responsible for protecting (Iraqi) cultural, historic and religious monuments which are part of the world's heritage. Russia shares the concern, expressed by such an authoritative organization as UNESCO," he said.

The leaders of Russia, Germany and France, three countries that had voiced strenuous opposition to the US-led war on Iraq, insisted that only the United Nations has the legitimacy to reconstruct Iraq, during a two-day summit Friday and Saturday in Russia's second largest city Saint Petersburg.

During a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, French President Jacques Chirac implicitly criticized US and British forces for failing to rein in looters in Iraq amid a collapse of law and order.

"In accordance with the laws of war, it is up to the US and British forces, as powerful occupiers, to maintain order and create the conditions for the provision of humanitarian aid," Chirac said.

SPACE.WIRE