ST.PETERSBURG. April 14 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has reaffirmed that the military action in Iraq did not attain its goal.
The goal was to find weapons of mass destruction, Putin pointed out at a press conference after meeting with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in St. Petersburg on April 11.
"Either there are no such weapons or they are in a condition in which they cannot be used. Since the Iraqi regime did not use (the weapons of mass destruction - Interfax) at the last moment, they are either non-existent, or cannot be used," he said.
"What did they fight for and what did they want to gain? In this case, the military action did not reach its objective, nor can it do so because without the return of the UN inspectors, no findings by the coalition's side can be legitimate," he said.
Putin even joked about it saying: "I would have found (the weapons - Interfax). It's strange that they failed to find them."