MOSCOW (Reuters) - Undersecretary of State John Bolton said Tuesday he had been unable to convince Russian officials after two days of talks to line up
behind a U.S.-backed resolution authorizing force against Iraq.
"I didn't detect any shift in their position," he told a news conference.
"But the nature of diplomacy is frequently that you have to give your message and receive a message back, and there is further consideration ... Today is not the first and I am sure it is not the last of the diplomatic discussions."
Russia has backed a French and German counter-proposal calling for U.N. inspectors to be given at least four extra months to look for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Moscow has said the inspections, resumed following the unanimous adoption of
a Security Council resolution in November, have produced tangible results. It has pledged to deploy whatever diplomatic means it can to avoid war.
Bolton said Washington was determined to secure as much support as possible from the resolution declaring that Iraq had squandered its "final opportunity" to disarm.
He denied any suggestion that Washington had already decided to launch military force against Iraq, saying President Bush still hoped to be able to
avoid a war.
"The president has made it very clear that he has made no decision on use of
military force. Our effort remains to find a peaceful solution to the problem of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction," he said.
"Whatever chance there is, slim though it may be, for a peaceful solution requires Security Council unanimity or as close to it as we can get. That's why we're engaged in an extensive diplomatic effort on behalf of this second
resolution."
The United States, he said, had not "written off any votes in the Security Council and we are working on them all."
The Washington Post earlier reported that Bolton had told the Russian leadership that the Bush administration had already decided to proceed with a military campaign whether or not it was endorsed by the Security Council.
Bolton criticized the Franco-German memorandum, saying it would fail to persuade Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to give up what Washington says are dangerous weapons.
"Iraq's obstinate refusal to comply actively and fully ... means that continuing the present scheme, even in some enhanced fashion, is not going to lead to the result the Security Council has demanded ..." he said.