Russia announced a last-minute delay late on Wednesday of a crucial U.N. Security Council vote on Iraq's future that the United States appeared confident it would win by a large majority.

"What I want to stress is there has been real movement toward greater consensus in the council on the basis of our draft text," said U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte. The controversial draft resolution seeks broader international support for the U.S. occupation and reconstruction of Iraq.

Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Sergey Lavrov talks to reporters before a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Iraq, Oct.15, 2003.   [Reuters]

But as council members filed in for a formal meeting, Moscow's U.N. ambassador, Sergei Lavrov, told reporters that no vote could be taken until his president, Vladimir Putin, conferred by telephone early on Thursday with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

"As far as I am concerned I cannot vote tonight until I hear from my president," Lavrov said, adding that the telephone meeting was scheduled for 6 a.m. EDT.

Lavrov said that amendments to the U.S.-drafted resolution had been proposed by Russia, Germany and France. "Not all of them have been taken into account and we have to wait until the three presidents discuss the final text," he said.

The United States was expected to secure the minimum nine votes needed for adoption of the resolution. But France, Germany and Russia, who submitted amendments calling for a timetable for Iraqi self-rule, had signaled they might abstain, along with China, Syria and others, thereby diminishing the impact of the measure.

After a day of intense diplomatic discussions between Secretary of State Colin Powell and other leaders whose countries have seats on the council, diplomats said the United States had picked up votes and probably had Putin's support.

Several changes were made to the draft text that were greeted by China's Ambassador Wang Guangya. "I think that our attitude has become more and more positive," he said.

U.S. SAYS LISTENS TO FRIENDS

"We are trying to listen to colleagues and friends and I think the larger the vote we can get, the higher the vote, the more powerful the signal." Powell told reporters in Washington.

With President Bush under pressure from the growing cost of the Iraq occupation in U.S. lives and money, the resolution could pave the way for other nations to contribute troops and cash,

Powell said he had spent the day telephoning leaders of nations with seats on the Security Council, including the presidents of Pakistan and Angola and the foreign ministers of China, Russia, France, Germany, Britain and Spain.

On Tuesday, France, Russia and Germany, which opposed the war in Iraq, submitted six amendments. But in concessions to the United States, the amendments abandoned specific calls for a provisional government to be created within months.

Still, the United States and Britain, while incorporating some suggestions, refused to yield power and would not agree to a timetable for the handover of coalition authority.

Under the U.S. draft, co-sponsored by Britain, Spain and Cameroon, the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council must produce by Dec. 15 a timetable for drafting a constitution and holding elections, a process which could take several years.

The other key part of the resolution would transfer foreign troops in Iraq to a U.N.-authorized multinational force, still under U.S. leadership.

This was meant to give U.N. backing to nations such as Pakistan and Bangladesh that may send troops, but need political cover to serve under an occupation.

U.S. and British officials have acknowledged that adoption of the resolution was unlikely to bring large infusions of troops or cash at a donors conference on Iraqi reconstruction in Madrid on Oct. 23-24. But it helps legitimize the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and the occupation of Iraq following a war the Security Council did not approve.

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