Moscow: Ahead of the November 15 deadline set for Iraq to accept the resolution on weapons inspections, Moscow on November 13 urged its Soviet-era ally Saddam Hussein to embrace the US-sponsored UN Security Council resolution.

"We hope that Iraq would display a pragmatic approach and take into account the fact that this resolution does not contain an automatic use of force, as well as the control procedures do not go far beyond the previous framework of weapons inspections," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov told reporters.

He promised to work for the suspension of UN sanctions if Baghdad would accept the UN Security Council demands.

Fedotov, Moscow's point-man on West Asia, said it was unrealistic for Saddam's regime to expect any change in the just-adopted resolution and Russia was in "close contact" with the Iraqi leadership through its Embassy in Baghdad and Iraqi Embassy in Moscow.

He also denied media reports of Moscow's close contacts with the Iraqi Opposition, saying their nature was "semi-incidental".

On the November 12 negative vote on the UN resolution by the Iraqi Parliament, already dubbed by US Secretary of State Colin Powell as a "political theatre", Fedotov attributed it to the resolution's "tough language".

"Emotions in the Iraqi society caused by the tough language of the resolution can be understood," he said.

Concerning the composition of UNMOVIC headed by Hans Blix, Fedotov said it was "more balanced than before" and includes weapons inspectors from India, Ukraine, Belarus, East European and Latin American countries.

PTI