The Hindu : Send inspectors to Iraq again, says Moscow

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 04, 2004

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International

Send inspectors to Iraq again, says Moscow

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, FEB. 3. Russia has called on the United Nations Security Council to resume international weapon inspections in Iraq.

The U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) must return to Iraq carry to completion the mandate it has from the U.N. Security Council, a senior Russian diplomat said today.

"It is necessary to clarify the issues related to Iraq's prohibited weapons programmes," said the Deputy Foreign Minister, Yuri Fedotov, after talks with the UNMOVIC acting head, Demetrius Perricos.

The Foreign Ministry announced today that Russia had formally asked the U.N. Security to send back UNMOVIC and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to Iraq to "finally close the issue of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq".

"The conclusions reached by the group of American weapons inspectors for Iraq led by David Kay coincide with the pre-war findings regarding weapons of mass destruction," Mr. Fedotov said.

"They bear out the relevance and righteousness of the Russian stand in favour of resolving the Iraq problem through political means with the help of inspections, rather than by military means."

Russia has offered UNMOVIC its laboratory facilities for testing chemical, bacteriological and biological samples that may be taken in Iraq when U.N. inspectors return to finish their work.

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