SOUTHERN & WESTERN KURDISH LEADERS GO RUSSIA / MEETING WITH ALEXEJ MILLER OF GAZPROM

June 16, 2013 – ERBIL-Hewlêr – :  President of Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani is visiting Russia in the coming days to participate in an economic conference.

A source in the presidency of the province said in a press statement Sunday that “the president of the region will visit Russia in the next few days to participate in the World Economic conference in Saint Petersburg.”

Massoud Barzani’s last visit to Russia was in February 2013, returned to Erbil on Feb. 24, at the end of an 5-day official visit to the Russian Federation.

During his stay in Moscow last February, Barzani also visited the headquarters of the oil and gas giant Gazprom and met with Chairman of the Management Committee Alexey Miller. Barzani also visited in Moscow his father Malla Mustafa Barzani’s residence, sixty years after the Kurdish leader inhabited in Moscow, due to Mahabad revolution defeat in Iranian Kurdistan in 1946. Some medias reported that the aim of the visit was to buy Russian arms, which was denied by Kurdistan region presidency KRP late February. Kurdistan Regional Government announced last December that news talking about purchasing arms from Russia is baseless. KRG’s spokesman, Safin Dizayee said in a statement at that time that Kurdistan did not signed a deal with Russia in order “to purchase a 87 million dollars-arms”, explaining that such news are “baseless”.