The Guardian (UK) 12 September 2002 Kremlin gives short shrift to US hawk over Iraq Ian Traynor in Moscow
The US state department's leading hawk arrived in Moscow yesterday on a tricky mission to persuade the Kremlin to soften its strong opposition to a US military campaign against Saddam Hussein.
John Bolton, the US under-secretary of state, was greeted by a chorus of Russian warnings of the folly and dangers of a war against Iraq.
The Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, warned that a new Gulf war could wreck broader international cooperation against al-Qaida and terrorism. His deputy said a US military campaign was utterly unacceptable to Russia. The talk of war also brought protests in the Russian parliament.
Moscow's position on Iraq, a traditional ally, is becoming critical if Washington hopes to secure UN security council blessing for military action.
But while the Kremlin looks likely to insist on a new security council resolution mandating the use of force against Baghdad - a resolution it could veto - Mr Bolton insisted that no new international mandate was needed to launch a war against President Saddam. "You don't have to wait for a mushroom cloud before you take appropriate action," he said.
"Whether the president decides to seek another resolution from the security council is a matter of political judgment, but it's certainly not a matter of international legal necessity," he told the BBC before landing in Moscow. "I think it's sanctioned morally and legally."
His position contrasted strongly with that of Russia's influential deputy foreign minister and former spy chief, Vyacheslav Trubnikov, who ridiculed the US case against President Saddam.
"The military scenario concerning Iraq is absolutely unacceptable for Russia, and our position is consonant with that of the majority of states," he told the Vremya Novostei newspaper.
Echoing what appears to be the developing Russian position on Iraq, Mr Trubnikov said Russia stood four-square with America on fighting international terrorism, but US unilateralism and resort to force would wreck that solidarity, not only in Russia, but also in Germany and elsewhere in the west.
"The fight against terrorism and the Iraq situation are completely different things, as are the return of UN inspectors to Iraq and the problem of changing the Saddam regime."
But it still remains unclear how President Vladimir Putin will react if Mr Bush launches a war either with or without international backing.
On several key occasions since the New York and Washington atrocities, Mr Putin has put on a brave face and bowed to US pressure on arms control, missile defence, the US military deployments in post-Soviet central Asia and the Caucasus.
It may be Russia could be bought off with pledges of protection for its substantial economic interests in Iraq under a post-Saddam regime.
Other possible areas for a trade-off to blunt Russian opposition would be a tacit green light from the west for Mr Putin's war in Chechnya and taking Moscow's side in the confrontation between Russia and Georgia over the latter's alleged harbouring of Chechen "terrorists".
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