14 March 2003 18:03
UN force 'could help disarm Saddam'
A senior Russian politician on Friday proposed placing a UN military force in Iraq to supervise a disarmament
programme for the country, as a way out of the current international deadlock.
Mikhail Margelov, a senator in the Federation Council, the upper Russian house, and an adviser to President Vladimir
Putin, said weapons inspectors could work under control of UN military detachments within Iraq.
He also stressed the importance of unanimity on the UN Security Council to preserve the international coalition
against terrorism, implicitly criticising indications from senior Russian officials that they would veto a second
resolution leading to military action.
His comments mirror recent thinking from a number of Russian policy advisers attempting to influence Mr Putin in the
build-up to a possible Council vote, who have stressed the need for Russia to keep its options open and raise the
possibility of military action under international supervision.
The plan emerged as discussion continued on offering exile to President Saddam Hussein. One foreign policy adviser
said Yevgeny Primakov, the former Russian prime minister who held talks in Baghdad recently, had offered Mr Hussein the
chance to come to Moscow, and that two military aircraft were on stand-by to bring him to Russia.
The Kremlin and the Foreign Affairs Ministry have denied the suggestions. But a senior US diplomat said this week:
"Russia sees [exile] as one possible way of ending this conflict without war."
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