ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Russia is committed to furthering its strong relations with the Kurdistan Region and supports the desires of the Region’s citizens to live in peace, the country’s consul told Rudaw while praising Kurdish authorities for their “positive” stance towards Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
“The relations between Russia and the Kurdistan Region and the Kurdish people are excellent, historic, and positive. Russia was always committed to Middle Eastern affairs and specifically Kurdish affairs and was always understanding to the interests of the Kurdish people and their desire to live in their lands with prosperity and peace,” Maxim Rubin, the Russian Consul General to Erbil, told Rudaw’s Nwenar Fatih late last month.
Rubin lauded the Region’s stance for what Moscow calls a “special military operation” against Ukraine, noting that Kurdish authorities have refrained from blindly siding with the West.
“The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) stance is positive, and the KRG did not participate in the campaign against the Russian state which was started by Western media,” the consul stated, referring to the strong global condemnations against Moscow for its war against Ukraine with Western countries slamming the country for alleged war crimes after President Vladimir Putin ordered an all-out invasion against Ukraine on February 24.
Iraq and the Kurdistan Region share close economic ties with Russia as a number of Russian oil companies operate both in the Kurdistan Region and in oilfields in southern Iraq.
“The Russian-Kurdish economic relations are focused on the energy infrastructure and in the Kurdistan Region two major Russian companies operate – Gazprom Neft and Rosneft – and they have invested vast finances into the Region’s economy, in the region of $6 billion … and they are considered the biggest investors in the Region,” Rubin said.
When asked about the possibility of furthering the relations in areas beyond the energy infrastructure, Rubin affirmed that Russian companies are ready to work in the Kurdistan Region but “a lack of information” about the Region’s economic capabilities and the prospect of security risks amid an unclear situation hinder further investment in the Region.
According to Rubin, Russia is primarily interested in helping to develop the Region’s gas fields but will only carry out its interests given the circumstances are right and that the security situation stabilizes.
Gazprom and Rosneft’s operations in the Kurdistan Region have continued as normal and have not been affected despite Baghdad’s pressure campaign on international oil companies (IOCs) working in the Region following a ruling by the Iraqi top court against the Region’s oil and gas law.
Tensions between Erbil and Baghdad has been high since the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court in February deemed the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas law “unconstitutional”, hence striking the independence of the Region’s energy sector and jeopardizing its industry. The KRG has repeatedly challenged the constitutionality of the court’s ruling.
The war in Ukraine, however, did previously affect the Russian companies operating in the Kurdistan Region, Rubin confirmed but clarified that the situation has been resolved.
“The military operation in Ukraine does not affect the Russian companies [operating in the Kurdistan Region], but the Western illegal sanctions did have an effect in the start … but now, these problems have been resolved,” he said, referring to Western sanctions on Russia’s logistics and its ability to transfer funds.
