Russian Foreign Igor Ivanov insisted that Moscow, which had long argued for an end to the crippling 12-year sanctions against its Soviet-era ally, wanted to see the embargo lifted.

"The international community is interested for sanctions to be lifted as soon as possible," Ivanov told reporters on the sidelines of a foreign policy forum in Moscow.

But he said that this could not happen just because Saddam Hussein's regime had been toppled by US-led forces, but only if it was confirmed that Baghdad has no weapons of mass destruction.

"This decision cannot be automatic. It requires the fulfilment of certain conditions stipulated in relevant UN Security Council resolutions on Iraq," Ivanov said.

"To take such a decision, we have to assure ourselves whether there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or not," he added.

An unnamed Russian foreign ministry official said earlier Thursday that Moscow wanted UN weapons inspectors, who pulled out of Iraq on the eve of the US-led war in late March, to go back into the country to check on weapons of mass destruction.

US President George W. Bush said Wednesday he would soon propose a UN resolution ending the economic sanctions, which put an embargo on the trade of Iraqi oil.

Russia has been a fierce opponent of the US-British invasion of Iraq and cast doubt on the accusations that Baghdad was developing biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.

But Moscow, which wants the United Nations to oversee the rebuilding of Iraq, fears that lucrative reconstruction and oil contracts in Iraq could be allocated almost exclusively to the US-led coalition.

Russia also is concerned that allowing Iraq to trade its substantial oil resources freely on the world market could damage Russia's own economy, which is heavily reliant on oil exports.

As one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council with veto power, it could block any move to lift UN sanctions against Iraq.

Stephen O'Sullivan, head of research at UFG brokerage, said that Russia and France, another opponent of the war which also has UN veto power and oil interests in Iraq, could be trying to negotiate a trade-off.

"It's a good negotiating position for Russia and France to take. We are looking at some sort of horse-trading here. Russia and France want to be protected," he told AFP.

Russian Energy Minister Igor Yusufov insisted Thursday that Moscow could not be shut out of contracts because of its opposition to the US-led war.

"I very much hope we'll be amply represented in these projects, we are fully entitled to it," Yusufov said, adding that Russian companies will consider valid all oil contracts signed before the war was launched on March 20th.

Russian oil companies have invested more than one billion dollars over the past seven years into Iraq's vast oil reserves, which are second only to those of Saudi Arabia.

Top oil company LUKoil has threatened to go to an international court if the post-war administration in Iraq fails to honor its massive contracts in Iraq, including a deal to develop the West Qurna-2 oilfield.

Dmitry Rogozin, head of parliament's foreign affairs committee, said the US announcement that it favored lifting sanctions less than one week after the fall of Baghdad and Saddam's regime seemed "wrong" and "mercenary."

"We should determine just what the United State is after -- something seems wrong, the approach is too mercenary," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.

"Today the United Nations controls practically nothing in Iraq, so the sanctions will actually be lifted not from Russian companies -- which should be working in the region -- but from Americans, who will be given the juciest parts of the Iraqi oil industry," he said.

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