Iraq’s PM tries to demonstrate variety of relations with world leaders - expert

AL KUWAIT, May 22. /TASS/. Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi by his visit to Moscow wants to demonstrate he supports good relations not only with the U.S., but also with other strong countries, Reidar Visser of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, an expert on Iraq, told TASS on Friday. He said the Iraqi government wants to demonstrate their counterparts in the military sphere are not one or two countries [besides Iran and the U.S.], he said. Al-Abadi needs to demonstrate he sympathises not only with the United States, thus proving the opposite to his critics, the expert wrote in an e-mail message in response to a question from TASS. Iraq’s prime minister arrived in Russia on May 21 to discuss bilateral cooperation, including in the economy and in the oil and gas spheres. However, a key item on the agenda may be further support to Iraq in fighting terrorism, as well as arms supplies. Read more