US President George W Bush spoke by phone today to the Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to obtain Russia's support for a new US-sponsored UN Security Council resolution against Iraq.
The United States is pressuring the Security Council to adopt a tough resolution by Friday and veto-holders Russia and France are said to be edging closer to agreeing.
Sean McCormack, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said the conversation focused on the resolution but he would not say whether Russia had climbed aboard.
"Both leaders agreed on the need to reach agreement on a strong new resolution that could lead to peaceful disarmament of Iraq through cooperation with U.N. and IAEA inspectors," McCormack said.
IAEA is the acronym for the International Atomic Energy Agency whose inspectors would work to determine if Iraq is pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
McCormack said Bush reiterated his desire to work with the United Nations on a new resolution and stressed the importance of approving a strong one.
Bush has warned the Security Council to act or else the United States will act with its allies to disarm Iraq.
In Moscow, the Kremlin said Bush and Putin had also discussed a planned summit they will attend later this month in St Petersburg.
The two leaders had been expected to meet late last month in Mexico at an Asia-Pacific summit but Putin canceled his trip because of a hostage crisis at a Moscow theater by Chechen militants.
Russian use of a gas to quell the uprising, which led to the deaths of dozens of hostages, generated international concern. McCormack said he did not know if this topic came up.