Manila, Jan 12: The United States should seek a consensus within the UN Security Council before any military strike on Iraq, the speaker of Russia's Lower House of Parliament said in an interview published today.
"Iraq is an independent state. It is not the 53rd state of the US," Seleznev told the Philippine star. "This world would be completely changed if one country would be able to act as policeman of the world."
"We, including the absolute majority of Russian society, believe that only with the consent of the United Nations Security Council can (a country) interfere with another sovereign country. Without this consent, it is not right," he
said.
Russia would like to "draw the attention of the international community to the existence of the Security
Council. It exists, and it works," he said.
Seleznev, who is visiting Manila, said that the US government had once threatened to invade Cuba "because it did not like its leader Fidel Castro."
"And now, they do not like the leader of Iraq, so they want to topple him. Who knows, one day, they would not like the leader of the Philippines and they will threaten to topple him too," he said.
The US military has been continuing to mass its forces in the Gulf for a possible military showdown with Iraq, even
though UN arms inspectors have until January 27 to submit a final report
Bureau Report
