German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chirac have long been some of the most vocal opponents of the U.S.-led campaign to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Unable to halt American and British forces from invading Iraq, all three leaders now say the United Nations must take the lead in establishing the post-Hussein order in Baghdad.

“We no longer live in a time where one or two countries can control the fate of another country,” said Chirac, after announcing he would join Schröder and Putin in the Russian leader’s hometown of St. Petersburg on Friday and Saturday.

Before the war, France, Germany and Russia formed the bulwark of opposition to Washington's hawkish stance on Iraq in the U.N. Security council, calling instead for

diplomatic efforts and increased inspections to ensure the Baghdad no longer had alleged weapons of mass destruction.

There had been some expectation that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan would join the talks in Russia on Saturday, but a U.N. spokesman on Tuesday said Annan would instead meet European leaders in Athens on April 17.

Blair urges stronger U.N. role

The summit of the anti-war countries will come only days after U.S. President George Bush met British Prime Minister Tony Blair in an attempt to iron out differences over how Iraq will be run once the fighting ends. Meeting in Northern Ireland, both said the U.N. needed to play a “vital role” in Iraq, but it is no secret that Blair favors a stronger multilateral approach than Bush.

London and Washington hope their agreed vision of the post-war reconstruction will placate France, Germany and Russia, while at the same time appeasing widespread international suspicion of U.S. motives in Iraq.

But several members of the Bush administration, notably Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, remain adamant that Baghdad should remain under U.S. control until the country is ready to be transferred to a new Iraqi civilian government.

Many in Washington argue the U.N. role should be limited to organizing humanitarian aid and other relief efforts. Paris, Moscow and Berlin, on the other hand, are demanding the United Nations alone should take charge of the economic and political reconstruction of Iraq.

Rift remains

The division between the two camps shows the rift caused in the run up to military action in Iraq remains far from healed. Schröder, Putin and Chirac have all adopted a more conciliatory toward Bush and Blair as U.S. and British troops have advanced through Iraq.

Schröder on Wednesday said there were "pleasing signs that the war in Iraq could soon be over," referring to indication's Hussein's rule had collapsed in Baghdad.

But Chirac’s attendance at what was originally scheduled as a bilateral German-Russian summit shows the leaders are determined to secure a more central political role for the U.N., despite U.S. misgivings.

“Will the meetings of Bush and Blair as well as Putin, Schröder and Chirac pave the way for a mutual agreement?” asked France’s Liberation newspaper in an editorial on Wednesday. “That remains far from certain. The U.S. government will see it’s worldview confirmed following its rapid military gains. The French-German-Russian troika appears prepared to remain on its opposing course.”