Putin signals possible support for war against Iraq

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin signalled a possible policy change in Russia’s position on war with Iraq yesterday.

“If Iraq begins to make problems for the inspectors, then Russia could change its position and agree with the US on new, tougher actions by the UN Security Council,” Mr Putin said during a visit to Ukraine.

His remarks are in contrast to repeated Russian statements against the use of force.

Meanwhile, pressing its campaign for worldwide support, the Bush administration is reaching out to world leaders and members of Congress with fresh disclosures that Iraq is hiding weapons of mass destruction and has links to the al-Qaida terror network. As Secretary of State Colin Powell ponders a UN appearance next week to make intelligence public, Mr Powell and Secretary of Defence Donald H Rumsfeld arranged to provide an advance, secret briefing todayOK to House members.

With White House approval, Mr Powell will disclose previously classified material designed to indict Iraq as a deceitful holder of illicit weapons and as having links to the plotters of the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.

Mr Powell has material showing that Iraq is not only hiding chemical and biological weapons from UN inspectors but os smuggling in technology for long-range missile and nuclear weapons programmes, a senior US official claimed.

A senior Iraqi official insisted yesterday that Baghdad holds no banned weapons and said that UN inspectors’ reports critical of its co-operation was not a “proportional representation” of the facts.

“I would like first of all to say Iraq has been free of any weapons of mass destruction since the end of 1991 and all the inspections ... have proven this fact,” General Amir Rashid said.