Russia And USA Launch Consultations On Iraq In Geneva

Russia and the US will meet in Geneva on Saturday to launch consultations on Iraq, with top officials from the Russian Foreign Ministry and US Undersecretaries of State taking part. According to a source on the Russian delegation, Russia's stance is based on the April 3 statement about Iraqi settlement, which the foreign ministry made on April 3. The statement contains a proposal to every party concerned with Iraqi settlement to work out a so-called "package approach," i.e. to suspend and subsequently lift economic sanctions in exchange for a permission to reinstall an international supervisory body in the territory of Iraq to monitor its armaments. If no activities connected with prohibited military programs are spotted during a specified period of time, the Security Council will lift the economic sanctions. The process should go alongside an effort to normalize Iraq's bilateral relations with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.