Duma Chairman meets with Yemeni President

On Wednesday State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznyov has met with President of the Yemen Republic Ali Abdallah Saleh, who is currently visiting Moscow.

The Head of the Lower House of the Russian Parliament pronounced in favor of restoring the full specter of Russian-Yemeni interparliamentary ties. He thanked the Yemeni President for the reaction to the October terrorist attack in Moscow when Chechen militants took hostage several hundred people.

Commenting on the Iraqi issue, Gennady Seleznyov spoke in favor of stepping up the role of the UN Security Council and the United Nations itself. "It is unacceptable that one country should assume prosecuting functions and decide who is to be punished or pardoned," the Russian Speaker said. According to him, if international inspectors do not find evidence of Iraq's possessing weapons of mass destruction, then the UN Security Council must lift sanctions against the country.

Speaking to the State Duma Chairman, the Yemeni President said he was pleased with the agreements he had reached in the course of his visit to Russia. "Yemen pursues a Russia-friendly policy. It gradually calls for restoring Russia's role in the international arena," Ali Abdallah Saleh said.