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.

“Our countries must do everything to preserve the stability of the system of international law, which is based on the supremacy of the UN,” Putin said during a bilateral meeting in Russia’s second city.

In Putin’s first public response to the dramatic US military gains in Iraq, a traditional Russian ally, he said he welcomed the fall of Saddam’s regime but insisted it had been wrong to bring him down by force.

“It is good the Saddam Hussein regime has fallen. We said for a long time he had to be brought down. We did not defend him,” the Russian leader said.

Under Washington’s plans, retired US general Jay Garner is expected to run Iraq’s postwar interim administration.

After an initial phase expected to last at least six months, he would turn over the country’s administration to an interim Iraqi authorityUS President George W Bush appears to be leaning toward the position of the hawks in his administration, such as Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who only want the UN to help provide humanitarian aid.

But a top Russian lawmaker close to Putin told AFP that the US and its key ally Britain needed international support to secure peace in Iraq.

“The return of the Iraqi question to the UN is not only in the interests of Russia, France and Germany. The US also needs a success story. Just two can win the war, but not the peace,” said Mikhail Margelov, head of the senate foreign affairs committee.

In a blow to the summit, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan cancelled his attendance earlier in the week. And British Prime Minister Tony Blair, also turned down an invitation from Putin to attend, Downing Street said.

The talks come after Moscow was dealt a blow by one of Washington’s top military hawks on Thursday, who suggested that Russia should now forget about ever winning back its debts from Iraq. Moscow appeared to be stunned by the statement.

It had fought a furious diplomatic campaign against the war in a bid to preserve Russian companies’ rights to lucrative oil contracts and safeguard Baghdad’s Soviet-era debt.

The debt stands at around 8bnMeanwhile, US President George W Bush and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi discussed the war on Iraq by telephone yesterday, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.