Putin looks for strong UN role

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin called for a leading UN role in post-war Iraq yesterday as the leaders of France, Germany and Russia held a summit to try and limit US control in Baghdad after the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

The three powers, which fiercely opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq without UN approval, are pushing for the UN to oversee the transition to a post-Saddam administration, an idea viewed coldly in Washington.

“Moscow and Berlin believe the main task is to urgently return the Iraqi settlement process to the framework of the UN,” Putin said after talks with German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Saint Petersburg.