Russia, China Urge U.N. Declare Iraqi Compliance

UNITED NATIONS —  Russia and China urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to certify that Iraq has halted its nuclear weapons program. But other council diplomats said such a move was unlikely as long as Iraq defies U.N. orders to open all sites to weapons inspectors.

“There are still patterns of concealment, insufficient information provided by Iraq and generally a lack of cooperation,” said Bill Richardson, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, U.N. biological weapons experts made unannounced stops Thursday at university campuses, drawing Iraqi criticism that they were disrupting students’ examinations.