Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said Thursday that the US-led war against Iraq has undermined international law.

"I regard the invasion of Iraq as undermining international law and undermining democracy because millions of people spoke out against it," Gorbachev said in Central London during the launch of a campaign organized by the WMD Awareness Program to make people more aware of the dangers of weapons of mass destruction.

"It was done without the mandate of the United Nations Security Council," Gorbachev said, stressing that the war was a "big mistake."

On fighting terrorism, Gorbachev said financial backers for terrorists should be stopped and world poverty should be alleviated.

In face of international terrorism, it was necessary to destroy nuclear weapons, not just control them, Gorbachev believed.

Gorbachev, who led the former Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991, has been in London for a visit aimed at supporting the WMD Awareness Program.

The WMD Awareness Program is a network of nongovernmental organizations which aims to fight the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Source: Xinhua