US Sees No Problem in Russia-Iraq Military Deals

WASHINGTON, October 10 (RIA Novosti)

The United States does not see any problem for its military cooperation with Iraq after learning that Baghdad and Moscow have signed arms deals worth over $4.2 billion in the sphere of military-technical cooperation, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

“Iraq overall has initiated some 467 foreign military sales cases with the United States. If all of these go forward, it will be worth over $12.3 billion, so obviously our own military support relationship with Iraq is very broad and very deep,” Nuland told reporters on Tuesday.

“We’ve seen the press reporting that one of the subjects on [Iraqi] Prime Minister [Nouri al-] Maliki’s agenda for his Moscow trip is military sales, but I’ll have to send you to the Russians for what it is in particular they’re talking about,” she said.

Earlier, the Russian government reported that Russia and Iraq signed a number of arms deals worth some $4.2 billion earlier this year, in line with which Moscow will deliver attack helicopters and mobile air-defense systems to Baghdad.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will on Wednesday meet with al-Maliki to discuss joint energy projects and other issues.