A Russian delegation has met with senior Kurdish officials in the Kurdistan Region capital Erbil.
President Massoud Barzani met with a delegation headed by the Russian President’s Middle East envoy Mikhael Bogdanov, in Erbil on Sunday night.
Bogdanov praised the role of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Peshmerga in the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants. He also delivered ‘Storied Land: Kurdish Culture through the Eyes of Russian Scholars’, an academic look at the history of Kurds, written by Russian authors, to President Barzani.
“When Kurds moved to Russia in the mid-20th century, the political and cultural relations between Kurdistan and Russia improved and we would like to take these relations forward.”
The Russian delegation confirmed their country’s readiness to support the Kurdistan Region in the economic, cultural and educational sectors.
President Barzani thanked the Russian government and academics for recording and publishing the history of Kurds in Russia. “We also want to strengthen the ties between the Kurds and the Russian people.”
They also discussed the political and security crisis in the Middle East and the ongoing war against IS which has so far cost the lives of over 1,000 Peshmerga.
