Russian UN Ambassador Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday night that he has to wait for instructions from capital and "can not vote tonight."

The Russian envoy told reporters ahead of a delayed meeting by the UN Security Council on Iraq that his country's leader is busy at an international conference, the earliest time for the instructions to come is "tomorrow morning at 6, New York time."

The vote has to be postponed "at least as a matter of courtesy understood by the sponsors," he said.

He said that the newly revised US draft has taken "a lot of" suggestions from a joint approach prepared by Russia, France and Germany. But further consultations are needed for the three countries before they can give a single response, according to Lavrov.

(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2003)