M A I N   N E W S

India, Russia call for settlement of Iraq crisis

Moscow, March 28
India and Russia today called for a political settlement to the Iraq crisis as President Vladimir Putin demanded immediate halt of the US-led war, warning that it may spread beyond the ambit of a local conflict and pose a threat to the global stability.

“Russia and India have a common stand for a political solution to the Iraq issue,” Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said as he discussed the consequences of the US-led war on the global security system and fragile situation in Afghanistan with visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal here.

Ivanov said that Russia appreciated the stand taken by India on Iraq. “We positively assess the steps taken by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee with regard to the developments in Iraq,” he added.

The Russian minister expressed Moscow’s desire to closely work with New Delhi to put an end to the bloody war and restore the political process in Iraq.

“We are working together with India and an overwhelming majority of the world in searching for ways to stop this bloodshed,” Ivanov said.

He said: “If the war is not stopped in the near future, there is a great threat of the worst possible humanitarian disaster, the worst the world has seen.”

Putin, addressing leaders of political parties in the state Duma, said: “The only means to resolve the Iraq problem is an immediate halt to hostilities and the resumption of efforts to find a peaceful settlement within the UN Security Council.”

“The (US-led) operation is acquiring more and more fierce and protracted character. Casualties and destruction are multiplying. We need to search together for the way out of this dramatic situation,” Putin said in his televised speech.

Putin said the main task of the international community was to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Iraq.

“The only right decision would be to stop military activities in Iraq and resumption of a political process within the framework of the UN Security Council,” Putin said. PTI