HIGHLIGHTS: Russian Foreign Minister & UN Chief Discuss Situation on the Phone||Bush May Not Make Decision on Iraq this Year||U.S. Republican Majority Leader of the House of Representatives Opposed to Unprovoked Military Action Against Iraq|| STORY: Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan are agreed on the need to find a political solution to the problem of Iraq, the foreign ministry in Moscow said in a communique.

In a telephone conversation Friday they agreed "on the need to pursue the search for a political solution to the Iraqi problem in line with the UN Security Council's resolutions," the communique said Saturday, in implicit criticism of Washington's threats of military strikes against Baghdad.

President George W. Bush has sworn to overturn the regime of Saddam Hussein whom he accuses of developing biological, chemical and nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

Russia and US allies, notably Germany, have expressed their opposition to any military intervention in Iraq.

BUSH MAY NOT MAKE DECISION ON IRAQ THIS YEAR

President Bush has no timetable for deciding whether to take military action against Iraq and he may not make any decision this year, a White House official said on Friday.

"The president has said that he has not made up his mind about any particular decision that he may make and he has not set any timetable," said the White House official, who asked not to be named.

Bush will "not necessarily" decide this year whether he will turn to the military to carry out the U.S. policy of regime change, code for ousting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the official said.

The president is at his ranch near Crawford, Texas, for a four-week working vacation.

Separately, a top Republican's warning against any unprovoked U.S. attack against Iraq drew a muted response from the White House.

Rep. Dick Armey, a Texas Republican who is the majority leader of the House of Representatives, said on Thursday that the United States had no business making a preemptive attack against Iraq -- disagreeing with Bush, a fellow Texas Republican.

Asked if Iraq's refusal to allow in U.N. weapons inspectors was sufficient cause for an attack, Armey said it was not.

Armey's comments appeared to reflect some concerns among members of Congress that war plans were moving ahead too swiftly without congressional review. They particularly raised eyebrows coming as they did from a staunch conservative and Bush ally.

American allies and Arab governments have been urging the United States not to launch a strike against Iraq in an attempt to topple Saddam.

PHOTO CAPTION

U.S. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld speaks as General Richard Myers looks on at the Pentagon in Washington on August 9. Rumsfeld said the U.S. would be part of any nation-building after a change of government in Iraq. REUTERS/William Philpott.