Speaking after talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the U.S. main ally in the war on Iraq, Putin focused on the issue of weapons of mass destruction, the original justification for the U.S.-led invasion of the Arab country.

``So far we have no answers and as long as we have no answers we cannot feel safe. We need to have a legal basis to put an end to this,'' the Kremlin leader told a news conference, adding that the United Nations was the only body competent to do this.

``Sanctions were imposed on Iraq on the basis of suspicions that it held weapons of mass destruction. Sanctions can only be removed if there is no suspicion and it is only the Security Council that can remove these sanctions because it imposed them in the first place,'' he said.

Since toppling Saddam Hussein in a three-week military offensive, U.S. and British forces have failed to turn up any caches of chemical or biological weapons.

Putin's view represented a slap in the face for Blair who went into the talks, held at a presidential estate west of Moscow, hoping to convince Putin to agree to an early removal of U.N. sanctions.

Clearly annoyed, Blair told reporters that Russia could be setting the scene for another bruising confrontation with the United States over Iraq.

``The question is, can we find a way forward together for the future...or whether we are going to have the stand-off we have had for the past few months,'' Blair said before flying back to London after three hours of talks with Putin.

HEALING WOUNDS
Blair's one-day trip had been aimed at paving the way for a gradual healing of wounds after months of disagreement between the United States and Britain on one hand, and Russia, France and Germany on the other over the Iraq war.

Putin, together with the leaders of France and Germany, had opposed military action against Iraq, arguing that intensified arms inspections could determine whether Iraq held weapons of mass destruction or not.

With the war over and major powers beginning to jostle over Iraq's reconstruction, Putin -- like the leaders of France and Germany -- wants to restore good relations with the United States and Britain.

The U.S. has called for an immediate end to the sanctions imposed on Iraq over its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

But Russia, fearing that the United Nations could lose leverage over Iraq's future, has said it backs only a temporary suspension of the sanctions to ease the plight of Iraqis.

Putin, replying with irritation to a journalist's questions, went so far as to question whether Iraq had ever held weapons of mass destruction as the United States alleged.

``Where is Saddam? Where are those arsenals? Did they even exist? What is happening with them?

``Perhaps Saddam is hiding somewhere in a secret bunker and plans to explode all this stuff at the last minute and put hundreds of lives under threat,'' he said. Putin also called for the U.N. humanitarian oil-for-food program, at the core of the sanctions, to be extended.

``Today when there is a power vacuum in Iraq we must ensure that the oil-for-food program is implemented under most strict control by the United Nations,'' he told reporters.

Iraq has not sold crude under the program since shortly before the war because there is no legal authority in Baghdad.

Though a solid backer of the invasion launched without U.N. approval, Blair differs from President Bush in wanting to make the world body the focus of Iraq's reconstruction.

Blair urged Putin to press ahead with developing a strategic partnership with Washington. ``The alternative in the end is in no one's interests. This strategic partnership is the only alternative to a world that would break up into different poles, acting as rivals to one another.

``That's a real danger for our world,'' he said.