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Russia faces U.S. Iraq mission
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russia is to hear details of the U.S.-UK draft resolution aimed at forcing President Saddam Hussein to readmit weapons inspectors into Iraq. The team, led by U.S. Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman, arrives in Moscow on Saturday for two days of talks with Russian officials on Iraq. Details of the draft resolution have been emerging with Bush administration officials telling CNN it includes a seven-day deadline for Iraq to accept or reject the resolution which calls for unfettered access for weapons inspectors. (Full story) All five U.N. security Council members -- Russia, the U.S., UK, France and China -- have the power of veto over the resolution and with it the chance to scupper the draft put together in Washington and London. Russia, France and China are all known to have reservations about threatening or using military force against Iraq if it does not re-admit inspectors to search out and destroy any weapons of mass destruction accumulated since 1998 inspectors were last in the country.
The inspectors left Iraq in 1998 -- on the eve of an allied bombing campaign intended to persuade Iraq to resume cooperation with the inspectors -- and they have not been allowed in since. A UK dossier published on Tuesday concluded that since then Iraq had stockpiled chemical and biological weapons and was working towards building a nuclear bomb. (Full story) Russia will be told on Saturday the full details of the draft resolution, which calls for unrestricted access for weapons inspectors, outlines what Iraq would have to do to comply with the resolution and what the consequences would be of rejecting it. Russian President Vladimir Putin called for the "earliest resolution" of the issue, during a photo opportunity where he accepted the credentials of the new Iraqi ambassador to Moscow. He said a solution should be found "by political-diplomatic methods based on existing resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and in accordance with the principles and norms of international law." Putin said the decision to resume inspections in Iraq opens "real possibilities" for solving the issue. The remarks were in line with previous Russian statements supporting the return of inspectors to Iraq, but not supporting the need for a new U.N. resolution, as the U.S. and Britain want. Grossman was in France on Friday selling the draft resolution, which is described as a work in progress, to Paris officials while President George W. Bush contacted President Jacques Chirac by phone. (Full story) Chirac spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said the French leader told Bush he still preferred a two-step strategy: a first resolution on the return of arms inspectors, to be followed by a second resolution detailing consequences only if Baghdad blocks inspections. -- CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty contributed to this report
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