IRAQ BREAKTHROUGH; AGREEMENT EXPECTED ON INSPECTORS.

Byline: George Gedda Associated Press

Iraq has indicated it will allow all U.S. weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad, signaling an end to a three-week-long stalemate that precipitated a U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf.

The announcement early today by Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov followed a hastily arranged, middle-of-the-night meeting among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the United States made no concessions to Iraq to gain its agreement.

There was no immediate word from Iraq, but Albright said she understood an announcement would come later today from Baghdad.

``We expect that today Iraq will make a decision that absolutely all the inspectors, without any exceptions, will return to Iraq, and will begin to work there normally,'' Primakov told reporters as he left to catch a plane for Brazil.

``That's what Russia achieved . . . without any use of violence, any use of weapons, without a show of force, it was achieved through diplomatic means,'' Primakov said.

Primakov briefed Albright and their counterparts from France and Britain, plus a Chinese representative, about his government's proposal for ending the crisis over weapons inspections.

Albright, speaking at an early morning news conference, indicated she was skeptical of Iraq's intentions.

``We have to wait to see if it's carried out,'' she said. ``I will believe it when I see it.'' She added that the Clinton administration would be pleased if the weapons inspectors were allowed back quickly.

In a joint statement read by British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, the diplomats said they hoped the Russian initiative would lead to Baghdad's ``unconditional and complete'' compliance with U.N. Security Council resolutions.

They gave no indication of bending to Iraq's demands for a reduction in the number of Americans on U.N. weapons inspection teams. They noted, however, that the U.N. special commission responsible for the inspections would meet Friday in New York to review its work.

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said he regarded that reference as a ``very important'' American move.

Vedrine said the plan involves an ``enormous'' movement by Iraq on unconditionally complying with U.N. resolutions and an ``American opening.''

Asked by reporters whether this represented any change in the U.S. position on weapons inspections, Albright noted that some U.N. member countries have suggested that more inspectors be added.

``We believe that UNSCOM is working effectively, that it does its job, that it needs to get back on the ground working,'' she said.

The statement of solidarity hid deep differences over whether military action should be used to force Iraqi President Saddam Hussein into compliance. France, China and Russia oppose the use of military force.

The officials said they hoped the Russian initiative would ``lead to the unconditional decision by the leadership of Iraq to accept the return of the personnel'' of the U.N. inspection team ``in its previous composition.'' The statement was read by Britain's Cook.

In Washington, President Clinton said anew that the United States wants a peaceful solution to the three-week crisis but that Iraq could set no conditions on the inspectors. ``That's our top line, that's our bottom line,'' he said.

Primakov invited Albright and the foreign ministers of France and Britain to this traditionally neutral city to detail a plan he worked out with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz for resolving the latest crisis in the Persian Gulf.

``A certain program has been worked out that allows us, we think, to avoid . . . a confrontation, to avoid the use of force and achieve a settlement,'' he said.

There was a light rain outside as the meeting convened shortly after 2 a.m. local time.

Even as Clinton strengthened American military power in the gulf, U.S. officials encouraged Russia and France to use their influence with Saddam.

Defense Secretary William Cohen planned to visit the United Nations today and meet with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the Iraq situation. Cohen's spokesman, Kenneth Bacon, said Cohen had been scheduled to be in New York on other business and felt it would be useful to hold a ``broad discussion about the Iraqis.''

``He is not going up there with any particular plan'' for settling the crisis, Bacon said Wednesday evening.

State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said Albright had not been informed in advance about the Russian proposal.

Albright cut short a trip to India - she already had canceled a stop in Bangladesh - to attend the Geneva meeting.

Earlier this week, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger reiterated that Iraq is permitted by the United Nations to sell some of its oil abroad with the proceeds used to import food and medicine, thereby easing the impact of the sanctions.

Saddam expelled Americans serving on U.N. teams of inspectors seeking to ensure that Iraq was not producing or stockpiling weapons of mass destructions. The United Nations responded by withdrawing all weapons inspectors from the country, leaving only a skeletal staff in place.

Iraq has charged that the American inspectors were spies. It also has threatened to shoot down U.S. planes on surveillance flights, but two flights have been made without incident since the crisis began.

Albright, Primakov, Cook and Vedrine met at the United Nations' European headquarters, the Palais des Nations, built in the 1930s as the world headquarters of the organization's predecessor, the League of Nations.

Primakov has conferred by telephone with Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, and Qian sent a Geneva-based ambassador to represent China, the fifth permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, at the meeting.

Russia all along has sought to avert a military strike on Iraq, much as Primakov tried unsuccessfully to stop the Bush administration in 1991 from attacking Iraq after the occupation of Kuwait.