Russia comments on Iraqi settlement

Russia believes it is necessary to work out a new strategy that will enable the international community, in particular the United Nations, to actively join the process of settling the Iraqi problem, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov declared. One of the first steps in this direction could be an international conference with participation of Iraq's main political forces and parties, neighboring countries and member states of the UN Security Council, the information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.

Russia also believes that the recent initiative of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is pretty productive. The initiative envisages the creation of a group 7+5+5 (7 Iraq's neighbors and 5 permanent and 5 temporary members of the UN Security Council) to consider the settlement of issues in Iraq, Fedotov stressed.