Afrasianet - The Iraqi-Russian relations are a model for cooperation between peoples to confront US hegemony. Russia has always stood by Iraq even when America invaded it. Joint cooperation through popular diplomacy has created favorable conditions for cooperation and exchange in all fields.

This is evidenced by the annual increase in cultural and artistic scholarships for Iraqi students. As well as in the approach to economics and energy.

Military cooperation too, for example: the Iraqis want to acquire Russian weapons, but the United States is hindering the building of military-technical cooperation between Moscow and Baghdad.

The Iraqis prefer Soviet and Russian weapons because they are familiar with them. Russia also has competitive prices. Of course, if the Americans and their allies do not intervene, this cooperation would rise to the level of cooperation that was in the era of the Soviet Union.

Moscow actively cooperated with Baghdad during the Soviet era, but this work was then halted due to the sanctions imposed on Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Of course, there is unfair competition on the part of Washington, because the United States "imposes its weapons and services on Iraq.

In this regard, the main thing that the Iraqis do not like is the cost and maintenance of American weapons, which are four times more expensive than Russian weapons."

Moreover, the Americans simply do not allow the Iraqis to see the equipment supplied. They monopolize all maintenance operations..

There are even suspicions that there is something hidden that they do not want to show. to anyone, including the consumer.

The United States has always made false accusations against Russia in its declared and hidden war on Russia alike, and Moscow has previously responded to Washington to the allegations of the United States of America regarding Moscow’s provocations, with reference to Washington’s “pipe” that caused the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

This is the case in the United States, “and the international community remembers what the Americans have done of fraud; For their military interventions around the world, including (the well-known test tube offered by Powell), as a pretext for invading Iraq.

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell was one of the main instigators of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, claiming that Iraq possessed biological weapons of mass destruction.

At a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Powell then offered a test tube containing a white powder as evidence, which later turned out to be a fake.

The former Iraqi regime was supplying the Iraqi army with all major weapons from Russia, and still is , And when Iraq needed immediate help to fight (ISIS), and was late in the arrival of military assistance from Washington. Russia's efforts to provide it with weapons accelerated.

In early 2017. In recent years, the exit of Western oil companies To be replaced by Russian companies. In this regard, the energy sector was supported by the activities of Russian oil and gas companies (such as Lukoil and Gazprom) in Iraq, and by strengthening its position by buying shares in the Iraqi oil sector.

Enhancing the interaction of Russian companies with the Kurdistan region, and investing (13) billion dollars in companies inside Iraq. Russia plans to expand investments worth $45 billion in Iraq. On the other hand, Russian officials are seeking to implement economic diplomacy and the committee meeting. government with Iraq; To promote economic cooperation. (16) agreements and memorandums of understanding were signed in the fields of: (Communications, trade, energy, electricity, production, information technology, transportation, banking, facilitating the issuance of visas to enter Iraq, and entry visas for investors and diplomats between the two countries).

Russia also pays attention to diversifying the Russian-Iraqi economic relations, with regard to the possibility Mineral extraction and investment in road and railway projects, and phosphorus and salt rocks, and geological exploration in Iraq;

The main parts of Russian exports to Iraq in 2016 were machinery and equipment. The United States has invested hundreds of billions of dollars in [building a sector] of what it called Iraqi security. But these investments were a disaster for the Iraqi people, as the United States, wherever it is, chaos, ruin and destruction accompanies this presence. There is no godfather, then, for America to incite against the constructive Iraqi-Russian relations.

In 2003, the Kremlin strongly opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq In 2008, Russia then canceled most of Iraq's Soviet-era debt of $12.9 billion in exchange for a $4 billion oil deal. In 2012, Lukoil and Gazprom Neft entered the energy market in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

But Russian efforts have accelerated in recent years, starting in 2014, when Iraq needed immediate assistance in fighting the Islamic State, and when Washington delayed much-needed military aid.

Moscow immediately prepared the aid, something many Iraqis remember to this day. In addition, two years later, one of the largest Russian delegations in years arrived in Iraq to build on these efforts and discuss more security cooperation.

Over the years, more energy investments followed, both in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, along with arms deals and other engagements. And given the pivot of US foreign policy towards Russia and China's competition over superpower status, Iraq remains important as a strategic partner.

The United States has invested a lot in Iraq for a long time, so that the result was more destruction and incitement to divisions, and America is still doing that. Moscow's ties in Iraq extend beyond the energy field.

According to the Russian ambassador to Iraq, Maxim Maksimov, Iraqi and Russian officials made 60 visits in 2019, “that is, on average, five delegations worked in Russia and Iraq every month,” as he put it in May last year. In addition, last August, Iraq (along with Lebanon) obtained observer status at the Astana talks on Syria.

The Russian interest in establishing sound and strategic relations with Iraq stems from its vision of how to cooperate between peoples.

Russia has never sought hegemony, and it is not in its belief to colonize peoples and plunder their wealth, while American crimes cannot be enumerated in an article like this because they represent the most criminal in history and in Conclusion The Iraqis are discovering how much the American presence in their country has led to more destruction and chaos.

The American attempts to destabilize the Russian-Iraqi relations must and will certainly be failed attempts.