Russia has called on Washington to wait until the Iraqi weapons inspection report is submitted to the UN Security Council before declaring Baghdad in violation of UN disarmament resolution 1441.
A top Russian official said such a move violated the spirit of resolution 1441 and the role of the UN Security Council - where Russia wields veto power as one of the five permanent members.
"We are expecting an official report from the group of inspectors, who have a UN Security Council mandate, to define whether Iraq has violated agreements" of the resolution, said Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov.
"After the report is submitted and the UN Security Council discusses it, we will be prepared to comment" on whether Iraq is in violation or not, Interfaxquoted the minister as saying. The US assessment of the 12,000-page report Baghdad turned over to the United Nations on December 8th would be made on Thursday, coinciding with UN chief weapons inspector Mr Hans Blix's review of the Iraqi declaration to the Security Council, senior US officials told The New York Times. The Washington Postsaid the US government's public assessment would come on Friday. In New York, a sanitized version of Iraq's armaments report was distributed to all 15 members of the UN Security Council late Tuesday.
The edited 3,000-page version was stripped of sensitive material that could be used to advance a nascent nuclear program and hence judged not to be entrusted to the non-permanent council members, which include Syria. AFP