DATE=10/30/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=RUSSIA / IRAQ / U-N (L) (CQ)

BYLINE=LARRY JAMES

DATELINE=MOSCOW

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

/// FIXING 2-269852 GRAF 4, THIRD SENTENCE, TO REMOVE DAY OF THE WEEK THAT U-N MADE ITS ANNOUNCEMENT ///

INTRO: Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz says his country will not allow United Nations weapons inspectors to return as part of any deal to ease sanctions against the Baghdad government. But as Larry James reports from Moscow, the Iraqi official indicated he is still considering holding talks with the U-N on the issue.

TEXT: Tareq Aziz was preparing to leave Moscow after two days of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov aimed at finding ways to ease sanctions on Iraq. He was asked if his government would allow U-N weapons inspectors - led by Hans Blix - to return and he responded bluntly with one word - "no."

Russia has long been a proponent of easing and eventually lifting sanctions against Iraq, and a Foreign Ministry statement Wednesday again urged Baghdad to resume a dialogue with the United Nations to move that process along.

The United Nations imposed a trade embargo after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. A key condition for lifting sanctions is proof that Iraq has gotten rid of its weapons of mass destruction. Baghdad says it has complied with all U-N Security Council resolutions and that the sanctions should be lifted. Security Council members, particularly the United States and Britain, do not agree.

Baghdad has said repeatedly that it will not allow inspectors to return. But U-N officials have given indications in recent days that Iraq may not be quite as inflexible on the issue as its public statements suggest. The United Nations says Secretary General Koffi Annan and Iraqi officials will hold talks early next year on breaking the two-year old impasse on the question of arms inspections.

Arms inspectors left Iraq in December 1998 just before the United States and Britain carried out a series of bombing raids in retaliation for Baghdad's refusal to cooperate with U-N experts monitoring Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. (Signed)

NEB/LDJ/GE/KBK