MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : KURDISH OIL OWNED BY RUSSIA / VICEROY PUTIN OF KURDISTAN
Iraqi Kurdistan’s Nechirvan Barzani meets Russia’s Putin in Moscow
10 May 2018 – HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Russian President Vladimir Putin held a brief meeting with the prime minister of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, Nechirvan Barzani, in Moscow on Wednesday, a Kremlin spokesman is quoted as saying by TASS news agency.On Tuesday, a Kurdistan regional government official said that Barzani would travel to Moscow at the request of Rosneft chief Igor Sechin.Rosneft is a major investor in Iraqi Kurdistan and controls its oil pipelines. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.“This was a brief talk,” the Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.
The Rudaw media group reported earlier on Wednesday about the meeting, citing Kurdistan Regional Government KRG spokesman Safeen Dizayee. The spokesman characterized the meeting as progressive.The KRG website said “His excellency [Barzani] is expected to participate in 73rd anniversary of Moscow’s Victory in the Great Patriotic War (World War II),” – Rosneft and the government of Iraqi Kurdistan in June 2017 signed production sharing deals for five oil blocks with Rosneft saying it would in the future aim to also explore for gas.