ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Russian foreign ministry spokesperson announced late Thursday that 50,000 Kurds live in the country enjoying “every opportunity to preserve their culture,” adding that Moscow has good relations with Kurdistan Region’s officials.
“As for Russian Kurds, Russia is a multinational state uniting over 190 main ethnic groups. A worthy place among them is occupied by the 50,000-strong Kurdish community. We will develop our relations in various formats, if we are talking about foreign states where Kurds live. For us, these are citizens of Russia who have every opportunity to preserve their culture and be proud of it. Russian legislation and our country's policy contribute to this in every way,” Maria Zakharova told Rudaw during a press briefing.
The spokesperson added that she has many Kurdish friends in Russia.
“We are convinced of the importance of strengthening and developing cooperation in the cultural-humanitarian sphere in the interests of further bringing together the friendly peoples of Russia and Iraq, our multinational countries. We interact closely in this and other areas with the official authorities of Iraq, the country's leading political forces, including, of course, Kurdish ones,” she noted.
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.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 4 honored Kurdish scholar Dr. Rashad Miran during a ceremony in Moscow commemorating National Unity Day.
Miran is the first Kurd to receive the Pushkin Medal, an award named after Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. It has been presented since 1999 to personalities who have made significant contributions to research, preservation, and promotion of Russian culture in the fields of culture, arts, and humanities.
The Kurdish scholar, a sociology expert who has played a prominent role in Kurdistan's political movement, referred in his speech to the "long-standing and strong relations" between Kurdistan and Russia, where he himself as an ethnographer has always been a supporter and collaborator.
“Between Kurdistan and the Russian Federation, there are long-standing and solid relations. From my side, I have always supported these relations and confirmed my participation in the friendship between both sides,” Miran said during a speech at the event.
It is worth noting that Miran was an active member in the Region's ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the 1970s.
Zakharova told Rudaw on Thursday that Miran received the award “for his significant personal contribution to popularizing the Russian language and culture.”
No decline in Russian oil production
The US Treasury Department earlier this month had imposed some of its “most impactful” sanctions on Russia’s largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft. The move comes as Iraq struggles to find a “solution” to the fallout from the US sanctions and their impact on the country's oil production.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Monday met with Lukoil founder Vagit Alekperov to discuss a “solution” to the fallout from the US sanctions on the company and their impact on Iraq’s oil production.
According to a statement from the Iraqi premier’s office, Sudani and Alekperov “discussed solutions and mechanisms to ensure stable oil production following the measures taken by the US Treasury against the company, which have affected the implementation of its investment contracts.”
When asked if US sanctions would impact oil production by Russian companies operating in Iraq, Zakharova did not provide a direct response, stating that it falls "within the competence of the economic operators themselves." She instead emphasized that the sanctions have not affected oil production within Russia.
“Russia does not intend to voluntarily reduce oil production in the same way as was announced after the EU sanctions were imposed in early 2023. Russia operates within the framework of OPEC+ agreements,” she said.