MOSCOW -- U.S. envoy Marc Grossman presented Washington's case for a strongly-worded UN resolution on Iraq in talks on Saturday with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and other officials.

Grossman was accompanied in the talks by British Foreign Office envoy Peter Ricketts and their two countries' ambassadors to Moscow, respectively Alexander Vershbow and Sir Roderick Lyne.

He is hoping to win over Russia to approve a draft resolution in the UN Security Council that would give the United States to right to attack Iraq in the event that Baghdad should not comply fully with the demands of UN-mandated weapons inspectors.

Speaking briefly to photographers, Grossman said no comment would be made on the talks until they were completed, AFP reported.

He arrived from Paris where his arguments were rebuffed Friday by President Jacques Chirac, who reaffirmed French opposition to any resolution which would allow automatic armed recourse against Iraq.

The envoy may find the going equally in tough in Moscow which has strong ties with Baghdad and argued that no new UN resolution is necessary following Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's agreement to allow UN arms inspectors unfettered access to all facilities.

President Vladimir Putin has indicated his opposition to the proposed new resolution on Iraq which, according to a draft reported by U.S. media earlier Saturday, would authorize the use of "all necessary means" -- implicitly, military means -- to ensure security if Baghdad failed to comply with the inspection demands. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly called for a solution to the Iraqi problem "on the basis of existing UN Security Council resolutions."

Moscow repeated Saturday that it had not been convinced by a British dossier published earlier in the week alleging that Iraq was planning to build up an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.

"This dossier contains no new convincing proof of the presence in Iraq of weapons of mass destruction or of Iraqi development of an illegal military program," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said in a statement.

On Friday, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said that "to delay the departure of (UN weapons inspectors) to Iraq -- to which Baghdad assented earlier this month -- would be an "unforgivable error".

Overnight, Russia "welcomed" UN and Baghdad moves to send weapons inspectors back to Iraq.

Moscow also welcomed "the position clearly expressed by Baghdad to cooperate openly with the UN on dealing as quickly as possible with the dossier on disarmement" in Iraq.

The United States, with qualified backing from its close ally Britain, is pushing to remove Saddam Hussein in Iraq and said that force should be used if necessary.

To secure a UN Security Council resolution it requires the approval of nine of the 15 members.

Among the five permanent members who wield a veto, it is backed by Britain but faces the opposition of France and Russia. China has also voiced scepticism but is expected to abstain.