On 4 March, with other MPs, I attended a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov. This is a brief synopsis of what he had to say:
There had been a united front over Resolution 1441 which sent a clear message to Iraq to disarm. A monitoring system is in place not just to make progress on the elimination of WMD in Iraq but also to ensure no new weapons are acquired. Real and achievable progress towards the disarmament of Iraq and systems are in place to prevent rearmament.
It could not be assumed that war will create a democratic regime in Iraq which will spread democracy to the Middle East and he pointed out the disastrous lessons the USSR had learnt from its efforts to impose sympathetic regimes in satellite states and the lengthy processes towards democracy in his own country.
He emphasised the importance of maintaining unity in the Security Council in the success of efforts to combat terrorism. He said Russia would not support the 'second resolution' but did not give a commitment as to how exactly how Russia would vote in the Security Council.
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