Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was to hold summit talks with Russian leaders Friday as Moscow seeks to restore its economic and political influence in Baghdad six years after the U.S. invasion.
Maliki, making his first visit to Russia as prime minister, also has his own agenda for the talks and is expected to seek military technology and Russian support for the abolition of remaining U.N. sanctions against Iraq.
The Shiite prime minister arrived in Moscow Thursday and was to hold talks with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, officials said.
"His visit will open a new page in the development of traditionally friendly and mutually beneficial bilateral relations," an official Russian statement said ahead of the talks.
"The question of the participation of Russian companies in realizing important projects in the oil, gas and electricity sector has particular importance," it said.
Half a dozen Russian energy firms were ready to work in Iraq, including Russia's biggest privately-owned energy company OAO Lukoil (LKOH.RS), it said.
Lukoil signed a $3.4 billion contract in 1997 to explore the West Qurna 2 oilfield, but was expelled even before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion because of disagreements with Saddam Hussein's regime.
Russia still considers the agreement to be valid but Iraq has until now insisted Lukoil would have to take part in a new tender offer, albeit under special conditions, the Kommersant newspaper said.
The Soviet Union had relatively robust relations with Saddam Hussein's secular Sunni-dominated regime, building up military and economic cooperation and keeping an influence in the closest Arab country to its borders.
Russia staunchly opposed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam and led to the establishment of a Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad strongly backed by Washington.
Maliki will become the second Iraqi premier to visit Russia since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. Iyad Allawi traveled to Moscow as prime minister in December 2004.
The Kommersant daily said he will be seeking the support of Russia, a permanent U.N. Security Council member, for the elimination of the remaining U.N. sanctions against Iraq.
The paper said it understood that Maliki would also be seeking to acquire military technology, saying Iraq still had a high opinion of Russian hardware dating back to Soviet times.