This was disclosed today by President Boris Yeltsin's press secretary Dmitry Yakushkin at a regular briefing in theKremlin. Some parts of the Russian naval force and strategic missile forces have been put on increased military readiness, in view of the sharpening of the international situation around Iraq, he said.

At the same time, Yakushkin tried to play down the recall by Russia of its ambassador Yuli Vorontsov from Washington and Yuri Fokin from London. He made it clear that Russian ambassadors had been recalled for necessary consultations.

``Their recall doesn't mean at all the severing of relations with these countries,'' he noted at the briefing. It's for the first time that Russia has withdrawn its ambassadors from any Westerncountry after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Yakushkin also reaffirmed that Yeltsin continued to maintain his hard position on air-strikes by US and Britain against Iraq which he termed as ``unacceptable'' for Russia.

Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview to CNN, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov today urged Washington and London to seriously reevaluate the situation around Iraq and refrain from further aggravating it.

He warned that there was a danger that the Iraq conflict might spread to other areas, relapsing into the Cold War era.

Ivanov said, Russia was conducting ``serious consultations'' and seriously considering the possible consequences, and would act accordingly, depending largely on the political line taken by the US and Britain.

Many political analysts said, Russia has very limited cards to influence the current situation around Iraq. Russia is very much weakened by its ongoing financial and economic crisis, they say. Its need for credits from the IMF and World bank, to overcomeits financial turmoil means it could do little to effectively oppose the air-strikes against Baghdad, as the US has considerable clout in these international institutions, they point out.

``Russia is very weak politically,'' said Yevgeny Volk, chief analyst of the Moscow Heritage Foundation. ``It depends very much on IMF credits and World bank credits. Both politically and militarily, it can't really retaliate,'' he underlined.

Earlier in Washington, State Department spokesman James Rubin confirmed that the Russian ambassador had been recalled from the country.

``Secretary of State (Madeleine Albright) has just been informed that Russia has recalled its ambassador for consultation,'' Rubin said. Rubin termed the decision as `unfortunate' and said, ``their reaction is not a surprise,'' noting Moscow's longstanding oppostition to the use of force against Iraq.

``We expect to continue to work with Russia at various levels on the many issues that are of importance to Russia and us around the world,''Rubin said.