#3 - RW 275
Putin - UN should become base of global anti-terrorist coalition
ITAR-TASS

UNITED NATIONS, September 25 - Russian President Vladimir Putin said the sharp differences over Iraq were not in the way of returning the situation to the UN legal fold.

Speaking at the 58th session of the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday, Putin said, "Despite the sharp differences in the ways of resolving the Iraqi crisis, the situation eventually returns to the UN legal fold."

Putin said Russia's position regarding the Iraqi crisis "is consistent and clear: only direct participation of the United Nations in the rebuilding of Iraq will give its people the opportunity to decide independently on their future."

It's only with the help of active and practical U.N. assistance to the economic and civil reconstruction that Iraq will take a new and worthy place in the global community, the president said.

He is convinced that the reference points, which were laid in the U.N. charter, such as the work for the sake of peace, security and progress, are still valid. "These objectives still make a stable and lasting foundation for the activities of united nations," Putin said.

Putin said the U.N. must become "the base of a global anti-terrorist coalition."

The Russian president said three years ago at the Millennium Summit he warned that terrorism is the major enemy of the United Nations. He regretted that his warning has been ignored.

"The September 11 events prove that unfortunately, we've not taken such measures. In addition, the methods used by terrorists in Moscow, New York, Chechnya and Baghdad are well-know to you and Russia. The fact that we may easily identify the organisers of the August and last years terrorist acts prove of the global nature of this threat," Putin said.

"Now we are hearing each other and understand that the U.N. must become and is really becoming the base of a global anti-terrorist coalition," he stressed.

The Russian president noted the special role of the U.N. Security Council Counterterrorist Committee. "Terrorism is a challenge to security and the economic future of the planet. The Committee should become a real and effective instrument to fight this threat," Putin stressed.

The Russian president also touched upon humanitarian problems, including the U.N. role in this field. He noted that Russia regards its participation in the U.N. humanitarian efforts as "an extremely vital political task".

"We are already contributing and will continue increasing our contribution to the solution (of humanitarian issues)," Putin stressed.

"Russia has written off $27.2 billion worth of debt to the developing countries in the last three years and is granting considerable tariff preferences to them," the Russian president said.

Putin said, "Russia also intends to work actively on the solution of urgent ecological problems. The World Conference on Climate Change that is opening in Moscow next week will mark an important step in this direction."

Putin called for creating a global system for monitoring and neutralising infectious diseases. "We regard the activities of the Global Health Fund as a real manifestation of international solidarity in the struggle against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria," the Russian president said.

Putin called for careful treatment for the existing U.N. international legal instruments as well as for caution in any attempts to reform them. The Russian leader noted that the only way to avoid the legal vacuum was to preserve the guarantees of effectiveness of those instruments.

"So long as the norms of law remain unchanged and so long as they are effective, we are obliged to keep ensuring security guarantees for states and the entire planet," Putin said.

Having admitted that "like any highly organized system" the United Nations needed some improvement, Putin recalled that the U.N. problems had never been totally confined to the organization alone. "Each time they emerge they continue reflecting the contradictions existing in the system of international relations, primarily in international law," the Russian president stressed.

Putin said, "We only have the right to meet the modern threats the collective responses whose legitimacy cannot be doubted. This requires a systems view combining political, and - if need be - military measures. They should be coordinated, reasonable and sufficient." The perfection of U.N. peacekeeping mechanisms remains on the U.N. agenda, he said.

"The United Nations should be capable of carrying out faster and more effective operations to maintain peace or, if necessary, to compel to peace, strictly in line with the U.N. Charter," the president said.

The chief lesson that should be drawn from the "United Nation's school" consists in the acknowledgement that humanity doesn't have an alternative to building a more secure, fair and safe world other than doing it through joint effort, Putin said, concluding his speech.

The Russian leader believes that "the United Nations solid structure has withstood all the shocks and jolts of the second half of the 20th century, helped (the world) to overcome the threats of global confrontation and, what's more important, contributed to disseminating the values of human rights and consolidating the principles of mutual respect and good-neighbourly relations among states."

"Russia is convinced that the United Nations should preserve its central role in world affairs. It is particularly important for solving conflict situations. This is our choice and our strategic position," the Russian president stressed.

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