#2
BBC Monitoring
Russian foreign minister criticizes US stance on Iraq
Text of report by Russian Centre TV on 21 January

Presenter: Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has returned from New York where he took part in the session of the UN Security Council on Tuesday 21 January. During this visit, Ivanov gave an exclusive interview to Centre TV observer Stanislav Kucher. Our channel will show the interview in full at the end of the week. And today we offer you its most topical part dealing with the situation around Iraq.

Ivanov: I do think that the leaders Hans Blix of the Unmovic United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and Muhammad al-Baradi'i of the IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency will present their reports on the results of the two-month inspections on 27 January. However, this is just a stage. This is not the final part of their activities. Moreover, this is the first, initial, stage of the resumed activities of the international inspectors in Iraq .

We should give an answer to ourselves and the international community whether there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or not. If there are, the inspectors' task is to find these weapons and to destroy them. This is the task. We are sure that today this task can be solved by political and diplomatic methods. We shall focus our efforts in this direction.

However, sometimes one can hear certain statements being made in the United States about the time running out. What time is running out? The notion of time is not determined anywhere. What is determined is the task.

Kucher: Sorry to interrupt you, but the wording is different. US President George Bush says that he is tired.

Ivanov: Well, these are political statements. And we, diplomats, should be guided by facts and by documents adopted. None of the documents set the time. They list the procedures for the inspectors' activities and the mode of their work. And these should be adhered to. And Iraq should provide every possible assistance to the work of the international inspectors.

At the same time unfortunately, we notice - and it is unacceptable - a growing pressure on the inspectors on the part of certain states or on the part of certain political forces in the United States. Such pressure is openly exerted via mass media and official statements. This contradicts our agreements. They are international inspectors, they are international officials, and they report to the UN Security Council only.

Kucher: How does this pressure manifest itself?

Ivanov: The pressure is manifested in demands made in public for them to find something. Dissatisfaction is being expressed that the inspectors are unable to find anything serious for the time being. You see, the inspectors' task is not to find something by all means. Their task is either to find something, or, if they fail to find anything, to state so.

Kucher: The lack of a result is a result in its own right, isn't it?

Ivanov: It seems that some people do not like it.

Kucher: Are you an optimist or a pessimist on this case?

Ivanov: I am a realist. It is my duty to consider all possible options. Amid these options, naturally, we do not rule out the possibility of a military scenario. We are getting ready for this worst-case option. Meanwhile, our efforts are directed at not letting it happen.

Kucher: What shall we do in the case of the worst option? Or is it a secret for the time being?

Ivanov: When a war breaks out, diplomats' mission is to stop the war and to bring the situation back to the course of political settlement. This is our job. I would like to hope, however, that we shall manage to avoid it the war. Still, I would like to repeat, that hoping is one thing, and to have plans for the worst-case scenario is another. We do have such plans as well.

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