Moscow, July 22: Russia wants to see a new UN resolution on Iraq to give the world body a more active role in the country, Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov said today ahead of a key UN Security Council meeting on Iraq. "Today's session of the UN Security Council is very important as the situation in Iraq is continuing to deteriorate rapidly, the political, economic and humanitarian situation, and security," Ivanov told a meeting of Caspian sea states in Moscow.
"This process has to be halted. This can be done only through joint efforts of legal representatives of the Iraqi population and the international community."
"Russia believes that for the international community to have the legal basis for taking a more active role in the settlement process in Iraq, it is necessary to adopt a new UN security resolution," he added.
The Security Council session takes place as the United States and Britain, which went to war opposed by much of the world community, face the possibility of seeking UN help amid continuing attacks upon their troops.
Russia said Friday it would consider sending troops to join an international peacekeeping force in Iraq if the UN Security Council approved such an initiative but stressed the move was currently not on the agenda.
Ivanov said dispatching an international force would be "one of the components of a settlement in Iraq" but renewed the Russian position that peacekeeping operations in Iraq had to be underpinned by a Security Council resolution.

Bureau Report