Thursday, March 28, 2024

Baghdad

Iraq to receive Russian T-90 tanks in 2017

 Iraq to receive Russian T-90 tanks in 2017

Russian T-90 tank

Russian T-90 tank

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq will receive a large number of Russian T-90 tanks during 2017, a senior Russian presidential official was quoted saying late Wednesday.

Russia’s president’s assistant for military cooperation, Vladimir Kojen, told Izvestia newspaper it was not possible for him to state the exact number of tanks, but said the batch come as part of a new deal between both countries. He said the tanks were a first part of a series of military equipment intended for Iraq.

The official did not set a price for the deal, but the newspaper estimated it by mroe than one billion dollars.

Russia had previously vowed to maintain military assistance to Iraq in its war against Islamic State militants. Russia opened a military command center in Baghdad in 2016, and provided Iraq with  tons of anti-chemical weapons kits in 2015.

Moscow has not, however, partaken in the U.S.-led military alliance backing the Iraqi forces in their campaign against IS which has run since 2014.

Iraqi declared victory over the Islamic State in Mosul, its second largest city, earlier this month, marking a symbolic end to the group’s self-styled “caliphate” declared in 2014. Military operations are planned to continue to clear other IS havens across the country.

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