Sudani and Putin “addressed the significant activities of Russian oil companies in Iraq, that align with the Iraqi government's vision to boost the economy and diversify its resources,” according to a statement from the Iraqi premier’s office.
Putin highlighted Moscow and Baghdad’s “successful” relations in the field of energy, saying that the investments of Russian companies in Iraq amount to nearly $19 billion, according to Russian state media. The two leaders are set to partake in the sixth Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow on Wednesday.
"We are coordinating efforts within the OPEC+ framework (and are doing this fairly successfully) for the purpose of stabilizing the situation in global markets. We generally succeed in doing that. I hope we will continue working together further on," Russian state media (TASS) cited Putin as saying during the meeting.
Sudani agreed that the two countries play a significant role in the global energy economy, stressing the need to continue cooperation “both bilaterally and within OPEC.”
Iraq and the Kurdistan Region share close economic ties with Russia as a number of Russian oil companies operate both in the Region and in oilfields in southern Iraq. The two countries first established diplomatic relations in 1944. Lukoil, Gazprom Neft, and Rosneft are some of the major Russian oil and gas companies operating in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
The two leaders also touched upon Iraq and Russia’s longstanding relations, with Sudani thanking Moscow for supplying Iraqi troops with weapons during the war against the Islamic State (ISIS).
After ISIS seized control of Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, in 2014, Russia sent a batch of second-hand Su-25 attack planes to Iraq based on Baghdad’s request.
In a phone call with Sudani in late September, Putin extended his condolences to the people and government of Iraq over the tragic wedding fire in Nineveh province’s Hamdaniya which killed over 120 people.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Baghdad in February with a trip mainly aimed at solving the financial dues of Russian companies in Iraq.
In March 2022, Iraq abstained from voting against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) vote denouncing the invasion, showing Baghdad’s willingness to maintain its relations with Moscow.
