Ivanov: Washington Will Have to Contact UN Security Council After Iraqi War

The United States will have to ask the UN Security Council to legalize its actions, after the Iraqi war ends. This was disclosed here today by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, as he addressed a session of the foreign-and-defense policy council.

The US military formation would turn into occupying forces, in case the United States doesn't contact the UNSC, Ivanov pointed out. According to Ivanov, the duties and responsibilities of occupying forces stem from this circumstance in line with international law. Meanwhile the United States will be in no mood to remain occupying forces for a long time. Washington will contact the UNSC at the first opportunity for the sake of legalizing its presence on Iraqi territory, Ivanov stressed.

In his opinion, Moscow intends to watch subsequent UNSC discussions rather closely, so that no UNSC resolution would legalize the military operation and the US-backed post-war Iraqi state system. We'll have to formalize our interests, so that Iraq won't cancel contracts that were signed under Saddam Hussein, and so that it would also confirm its debts being owed to Russia, Ivanov went on to say. Ivanov admitted that it will take a lot of time and effort to formalize all these aspects in new UNSC resolutions on Iraq.