Russia expects the UN Security Council to pass a new resolution on Iraq, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Moscow Tuesday.

"We are not insisting on a new resolution and are open to consultations," but Russia "doesn't rule out the possibility" that the Security Council will adopt a new resolution, Putin said after talks with visiting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The president described the situation in Iraq as quite serious. "Every week several armed clashes occur there, sometimes they run into dozens," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.

Putin also stressed that Russia wants to restore stability in Iraq as soon as possible and is ready to work toward this goal.

Russia, a main opponent of the US-led war in Iraq without the authorization of the United Nations, has been calling for a greater UN role in Iraq's post-war reconstruction.

Following the open UN Security Council session on July 22, Russia expressed its support for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recommendations, which are believed to be the basis of a Security Council resolution that would take Resolution 1483 further and indicate the direction of involvement of the international community in helping the Iraqi people.

Earlier in July, Russian officials expressed their readiness to consider sending peacekeepers to Iraq if the United Nations approves such an initiative.

(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2003)