Russia has restated its opposition to any new UN resolution authorising the automatic use of force against Iraq, capping a week of opposition to a growing US-driven momentum toward war.
"We continue to believe a new UN Security Council resolution on Iraq is not necessary", deputy foreign minister Mr Yury Fedotov said, quoted by Interfax news agency.
"We are against a resolution that would lead to the automatic use of force," he added.
Nevertheless, Mr Fedotov refused to say whether Russia would use its Security Council veto or simply abstain from such a resolution, expected to be unveiled by the United States on Monday.
"We would have to see what its contents are," he said.
His comments came days after foreign minister Mr Igor Ivanov and President Vladimir Putin stepped up their opposition to Washington's campaign to win the Security Council endorsement for war on Iraq. Diplomats say the council could vote on the US-drafted text early next month following a new progress report from UN weapons inspectors in Iraq.
The draft text will say that Iraq has not respected the previous resolution 1441 obliging it to disarm, sources say.
However, US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the new text will not contain any explicit deadline.
AFP