Foreign ministers of Russia and Greece to meet in Moscow

Foreign ministers of Russia and Greece will meet in Moscow October 17 to discuss a number of pressing international problems, including the situation in South-East Europe, Mediterranean, Cyprus and around Iraq. This was disclosed Monday by adviser of the Greek embassy in Moscow Spyridon Hatazaras.

According to him, the stances of Moscow and Athens on the majority of international issues are very close or coincide.

This relates to the Iraqi problem as well. Greece has repeatedly expressed its full disagreement with the plans of attacking Iraq. Greek Prime Minister Konstandinos Simitis stated recently that Athens stand against any unilateral actions with regard to Iraq.

The UN should play a primary role in lessening of tension around Iraq, he emphasised.

According to Simitis, a strike on Iraq should be absolutely justified and legal, however, the proves available so far do not justify a possible action for the sake of eliminating Saddam Hussein.

Moscow has also repeatedly stressed at different levels that the political and diplomatic resource of settling the Iraqi issue is far from being exhausted. Russia advocated consistently and will advocate the settlement of the conflict by political means on the basis of the implementation of all UN SC resolutions.