Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko confirmed Monday Russia's opposition to the latest US-proposed draft resolution on Iraq to the United Nations Security Council, Interfax reported.

It is unlikely to reach a consensus until amendments suggested by other countries, including Russia, are introduced to this document, said the spokesman.

"If Russia's proposals have not been taken into account, it's difficult to count on broad agreement in the UN Security Council," Yakovenko stressed, according to Itar-Tass.

The United States has circulated the third revised draft resolution on Iraq, requiring the US-installed Iraqi Governing Council to provide no later than Dec. 15 a timetable and a program for the drafting of a new constitution for Iraq and for the holding of democratic elections under that constitution.

The latest amendment was submitted after the second revised version drew harsh criticism from United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and some other Security Council members that want Iraqis to get sovereignty first and only later write a constitution and then hold elections. But the United States favors a reverse order that would set out a later transfer of power to Iraqis.

Yakovenko said that consultations on the US-proposed draft resolution are underway in the UN Security Council, but it is not known yet whether the United States makes revisions in its draft.

(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2003)