Russia warned that military strikes against Iraq could take the world's focus off the ongoing military campaign in Afghanistan and lead to the spread of international terrorism.

"Switching the focus off Afghanistan and shifting it to Iraq may augment the threat of international terrorism which is coming from Afghan territories that are not under Kabul's control," Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov told the ITAR-TASS news agency.

He reiterated Russia's view that the international community currently had no proof of a link between the Iraqi regime and international terror organizations.

"Nobody has been able to provide any evidence of this link," said Fedotov in reference to one of the main arguments from Washington in favor of toppling President Saddam Hussein's regime.

Russia is opposed to a unilateral US military intervention against Iraq that has been threatened by Washington if Baghdad should be considered to be in material breach of UN Security Council resolution 1441, which orders it to completely give up weapons of mass destruction.

Both Washington and London have criticized Iraq's weapons declaration, presented to the UN on December 7, as inadequate.

But Russia argues that a military campaign must not be launched without backing from the UN Security Council, where it wields veto power as a permanent member.

The Security Council "must rule on its own whether Iraq is complying with resolution 1441, and whether it is in breach of this document or not," Fedotov said.

The second inspectors' report to the UN Security Council is to be presented on January 27 and several US newspapers have reported that Washington plans to launch an assault on Iraq the following month.

However NATO Secretary General George Robertson -- who has been approached by Washington for assistance in any campaign -- said on Thursday that the Bush administration was prepared to consult the United Nations, despite "a certain amount of rhetoric."

"Up to now the United States has kept very rigidly to the United Nations route. They still do, the inspectors are still there," Robertson told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

"There is a certain amount of rhetoric, but in reality President Bush has strongly placed his country in the fold of NATO and also within international, multilateral institutions," he added.

Fedotov confirmed that Moscow wanted Iraq to fully comply with weapons inspections and for the United States and Britain to give the investigators time to do their work before drawing up war plans.

And as one of Iraq's main backers in the international arena Fedotov said Russia would press for a re-evaluation of a UN sanctions regime against Iraq should Saddam's government provide unfettered access to inspectors.

"As Iraq's cooperation with the international community grows, we have to clarify the prospects of lifting the existing sanctions against Iraq," said Fedotov, who oversees Russia's negotiations with the United Nations.

Iraq on Tuesday accused the United States and Britain of blocking contracts worth 7.4 billion dollars from being approved under the current UN oil-for-food program.

Iraq has been under UN trade sanctions since its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The oil-for-food program, instituted in 1996, allows Iraq to buy food, medicine and other basic necessities in exchange for oil exports.

Russia -- which holds a large chunk of the Iraq oil export contracts and has major investments in the country's all-but-frozen oil industry -- is seeking to simplify the sanctions list during ongoing negotiations with the United States.

Only a lifting of sanctions, along with Iraq's cooperation on weapons inspections, "can lead to a long-term solution to the Iraqi problem," Fedotov said.

Copyright 2002 AFP

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