#8 - RW 273
Diplomat says Russian amendments improve US resolution on Iraq
Interfax

Moscow, 11 September: Russian amendments to the new draft resolution of the UN Security Council on Iraq, which the USA has initiated, aim to improve the draft, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's international organizations department, Andrey Granovskiy, told Interfax on Thursday [11 September].

"The Russian amendments are aimed at considerably improving the American draft. They would make the draft more solid and, in particular, define a larger role for the UN and the UN Security Council in the Iraqi settlement," he said.

The US draft "contains many components of the attitude that Russia is promoting for the Iraqi settlement", Granovskiy said.

"Yet, we think that the resolution should give a clear definition of the multinational forces' mandate, powers and period of stay in Iraq. The forces' accountability to the UN Security Council should be given a clear definition, too," the high-ranking diplomat said.

Moscow also wants the multinational forces to be "a component of the general political process in Iraq, whose period of military presence should be specified", he said.

"A political settlement plan specifying the way and time of the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty and forms of legitimate power institutions in that country should be able to be derived from the resolution," Granovskiy explained.

Moscow thinks that work on the draft resolution "will be rather difficult", the diplomat stressed.

"We are ready for constructive work on the American draft in close cooperation with the USA, France, Germany, China and other members of the Security Council," Granovskiy said.

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