Russia, Gulf states commit to peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis

Russia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states have called for settling the Iraqi crisis by political and diplomatic means.

Itar- Tass said that the GCC secretary general Abdul Rahman al-Ateyah and the Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov stressed in a meeting they held on Monday in Moscow the importance of implementing UN Security Council resolutions concerning the Iraqi issue. They expressed great concern over the continued grave crisis in the Middle East.

Meantime, the Russian deputy foreign minister Yuri Viditov stressed Russia's adherence to the idea of finding a solution acceptable by all aides at the UN security council that allows the issuance of an applicable decision concerning the Iraqi issue, according to Itar-Tass yesterday.

Itar Tass said yesterday that Viditov stressed this Russian position during his meeting on Monday evening with the director of the Russian department at the UN Security Council Thomas Grim and the US ambassador to Russia on the need of using the diplomatic potentials in order to agree an acceptable resolution concerning the Iraqi question.