President Vladimir Putin told journalists in Sofia on 2 March that \"international law\" is the only basis for resolving the Iraq crisis, newsru.com reported on 3 March. Putin said the international community cannot interfere with the domestic affairs of any country in order to change its regime, and that the only legitimate goal the United Nations can pursue in this situation is the disarmament of Iraq. Putin added that leaders who violate laws should be punished by their domestic legal systems \"except in very extreme cases.\" Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov spoke by telephone on 1 March with the foreign ministers of several current nonpermanent members of the UN Security Council -- Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico, Pakistan, and Syria -- to discuss the Iraq situation. Ivanov told his counterparts that Russia still believes in a \"political/diplomatic solution to the Iraq crisis along the lines formulated by the [25 February] joint French-German-Russian statement.\" (newsru.com)