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Putin supports U.N. role in Iraq
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday lauded the United Nations and stressed its importance in mending the situation in Iraq and other international crises. Apparently referring to Iraq, Putin said Russia "is prepared to step up its participation both in operations conducted under the aegis of the United Nations and in coalition organizations authorized by the Security Council." Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, opposed the war in Iraq. Putin, who is scheduled to meet this weekend with U.S. President George W. Bush at the Camp David retreat in Maryland to discuss policy on Iraq, supports a substantive U.N. role in that nation. (Full story) "Despite sharp differences about how to resolve the Iraq crisis, the situation is coming back to the legal sphere of the United Nations," Putin said. "The direct participation by the United Nations alone in the rebuilding of Iraq will enable its people themselves to decide on their future." He said that "only with the active, practical assistance by the United Nations in its economic and civil transformation, only thus will Iraq take a new, worthy place in the world community." Putin also said that one of the roles of the Security Council is acting on behalf of the United Nations, calling it a "specific mechanism for harmonizing political will" of the many nations in the body. Putin said world "leadership entails major obligations." "Being a world power means being together with the world community," he said. "Being truly a strong influential state means seeing and resolving the problems of small countries and economically weak countries." He also addressed terrorism, saying three years ago at the Millennium Summit he warned of the seriousness of the threat of terrorism. He said the events of September 11, 2001, proved that Russia's voice was not heeded. Attacks such as those in Moscow, Chechnya, the United States, the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad and elsewhere have "long been painfully familiar to us in Russia." "It is identical everywhere," Putin said. He said the U.N. counterterrorism committee must be a "real, practical instrument" in fighting terror. "We should counter threats to civilization only through collective responses," Putin said. "This is not called into doubt. "We need a systemic view of political and, when needed, military measures, measures that are agreed, sensible and adequate." Putin also praised the "basic, irreplaceable" humanitarian work of the United Nations as it fights hunger and disease.
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