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Moscow: India and Russia have said a lasting dispensation in Iraq was possible only if the United Nations had a key role in the war-torn nation.

External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov said this on September 4 when the Indian leader called up the latter to discuss Iraq, a Russian Foreign Ministry release said.

Sinha called up Ivanov ahead of Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal's two-day visit to Moscow starting September 7 to synchronise Indian and Russian stands on Iraq and other key global issues at the UN General Assembly session in New York later in September.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Russian President Vladimir Putin, among other world leaders, will address the session.

Sources in Moscow said Sibal could also explore the possibility for a Vajpayee-Putin meeting on the sidelines of UN session ahead of their regular summit in November.

Meanwhile, Ivanov on September 5 said the US proposal for a new UN resolution to set up a multinational force in Iraq needed a lot more work.

"The US draft is moving toward principles (supported by Russia) but for them to be outlined (in the resolution) in full, the document needs very serious work," Ivanov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency in Uzbek capital Tashkent.

"This initiative deserves attention because the draft resolution in part reflects principles that Russia had been repeatedly fighting for," the Foreign Minister said.

PTI