Russia, a leading opponent of the US-led invasion of Iraq, said on Saturday that it did not support holding Iraqi elections until the end of the US military occupation and a hand-over to Iraqi sovereignty.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said national polls could only take place if they were organised under the aegis of the United Nations, which would not agree to take a role in current conditions.
"There is no alternative to nation-wide elections in Iraq and they will be held sooner or later," Fedotov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
"But such elections will require in-depth preparation by all sides and it is very hard to imagine conducting such preparations under conditions of occupation of Iraq," he added.
The United Nations, whose secretary general Kofi Annan recommended Thursday that elections be put off and a caretaker regime selected for the short term, "is unlikely to agree to start its work in Iraq under occupation."
US civil administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, said earlier Saturday that it would be will be impossible to organise elections in Iraq for another year to 15 months for technical reasons.