Parliamentary international committee to hold an enlarged session on Iraq

At its session on Friday the international committee of the State Duma will consider the situation surrounding Iraq. It is expected that Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will speak at this session. The question of the situation concerning Iraq was raised at the plenary meeting of the State Duma (Lower House) two weeks ago. A group of the parliamentarians from the Duma committee for security, with representative of the Agro-Industrial Group with Pavel Burdukov at the head, being worried by the intention of the United States to deliver a military blow at Iraq, has drafted a resolution of the Lower House on this score.

However, the Duma international committee proposed not to be in a hurry to adopt this document which, in the opinion of the members of this committee, should be further worked over. The committee believes that first of all the situation surrounding Iraq should be discussed at its session with the participation of Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, representatives of the power structures and the Duma factions' leaders.

Only after this, pointed out chairman of the Duma international committee Dmitry Rogozin, will it be possible to speak about the resolution of the State Duma, which would then become "a really state" document, and not a document "reflecting the position of some or other factions in the State Duma." As was repeatedly stated by Igor Ivanov earlier, the political potential of the solution of the Iraqi problem at this moment is far from being exhausted. The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry admitted that there were "different approaches" with regard to Iraq. However, "the solution of this problem by use of force, bypassing the Security Council of the United Nations, will not be able to resolve this complicated problem; more than that, it can complicate the situation in the Middle East as a whole."