In June of this year, in the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, another batch of three TOS-1A Solntsepek heavy rocket-propelled flame-throwing systems, delivered from Russia, was unloaded from a transport vessel. This powerful weapon produced by OJSC Scientific and Production Corporation Uralvagonzavod was ordered by Iraq as part of a large contract concluded in 2013 for the purchase of a batch of land weapons in Russia worth about $ 1.6 billion. The current batch of Solntsepekov is already the third in a row. coupled with a significant amount of other weapons supplied in recent years, allows us to talk about the complete restoration of military-technical cooperation (MTC) between the two countries. After more than 20 years of hiatus.
The first consignments of weapons from the USSR came to this Middle Eastern country back in 1958, immediately after the revolution on July 14, as a result of which the monarchy was overthrown, a republic was proclaimed, and the military bases of the British who ruled here were withdrawn from the country. The golden period of Soviet-Iraqi military-technical cooperation came during the reign of Saddam Hussein, who came to power in Iraq in 1979. Unlike many of the so-called partners of the USSR, who received mountains of Soviet weapons for free or on loans that no one was going to give, Iraq paid for the deliveries with real money and oil that was easily convertible into money. Soon after he came to power, Saddam nationalized the country's main wealth - the oil fields and the related oil industry. The state acquired financial resources that allowed it to create, with the help of Soviet supplies, one of the strongest armies in the region.
The total value of contracts for the supply of weapons from the USSR carried out in the period from 1958 to 1990 amounted to $ 30.5 billion at current prices, of which, before the invasion of Kuwait, Iraq managed to pay $ 22.413 billion ($ 8.22 billion). - oil). In addition to the direct supply of equipment, the USSR trained Iraqi officers and specialists, Soviet enterprises carried out repairs of the supplied special equipment. An important component of the bilateral military-technical cooperation was the construction of facilities for the Iraqi military industry with the help of Soviet specialists. Plants for the production of artillery ammunition, pyroxylin powder, rocket fuel, aviation ammunition and bombs were built in the city of El Iskandaria. The USSR sold and transferred to Baghdad more than 60 licenses for the independent production of weapons, ammunition and military equipment, including Kalashnikov assault rifles, which quickly flooded the entire Middle East. A huge amount of supplied Soviet weapons was enough for Iraq both for the Arab-Israeli wars, and for the suppression of the Kurdish resistance, and for the exhausting Iran-Iraq war.
Large-scale and mutually beneficial military-technical cooperation between the two countries was disrupted by Saddam Hussein's Kuwaiti adventure.
In response to the Iraqi aggression in early August 1990, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution No. 661, according to which, among other things, all states were to prohibit the transfer of weapons and military equipment to Iraq. For more than a decade, Iraq has left the list of significant players in the arms market. Only after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the adoption in 2003 of UN Security Council Resolution No. 1483 on lifting international sanctions from Iraq and the 2004 resolution on the creation of Iraqi security forces did Russia have a legal opportunity to return to the Iraqi market.
AFTER A LONG BREAK
However, the conditions in the country - political, economic - have changed dramatically. The country was de facto under American occupation, and the political and military leadership was under the control of the United States, which was in no hurry to return the Russians to the Iraqi arms market. Defeated by a decade of sanctions and an American invasion, the country could no longer spend tens of billions of dollars on weapons in Saddam's fashion. In addition, the forces created by the New Iraqi Army were initially extremely limited in number (35 thousand people). Therefore, a rapid return of Russia to the Iraqi market soon after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the lifting of sanctions did not happen.
The situation began to change in late 2011, when the last American soldiers left Iraq and the nine-year occupation of the country ended. On the one hand, the Iraqi leadership gained a certain freedom of action regarding the choice of partners in military-technical cooperation, managed to recover after the lifting of sanctions and the oil industry, the main source of income for military purchases. On the other hand, the numerous Iraqi rebel groups that gained strength after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein have now focused their armed struggle against the central Iraqi government. Conflict between various religious and ethnic groups flared up with renewed vigor. Therefore, the Iraqi leadership began to look for a reliable source of modern weapons to counter the threats facing the country.
Plants TOS-1A "Solntsepek" pass through the streets of Baghdad. Reutes Photos
And in 2012, following the results of several visits to Russia by an Iraqi delegation led by Acting Iraqi Defense Minister Saadoun Dulaymi and a meeting between the Prime Ministers of Russia and Iraq, Dmitry Medvedev and Nuri al-Maliki, several contracts were signed for the supply of weapons and military equipment to Iraq. equipment worth about $ 4.2 billion. The package implied the supply of 48 Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile-gun systems and 36 (later - up to 40) Mi-28NE attack helicopters.
The Americans decided not to put up with the loss of their share of the Iraqi market and launched an information campaign to discredit the Russian-Iraqi military-technical cooperation. Allegedly, the transactions were concluded with obvious corruption violations and require verification. However, after the proceedings, the adviser to the Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Mousavi said that the deal had been given the green light. An advance payment was made for the supplied weapons, in addition, in April 2013, an additional contract was signed for the supply of six Mi-35M combat helicopters to Iraq. In November 2013, Iraq received the first four helicopters manufactured by Rostvertol. In 2014, new-generation Russian combat helicopters Mi-28NE were delivered to Iraq.
FRIENDSHIP IS TESTED IN TROUBLE
By this time, the Iraqi state faced a new, much larger threat: in January 2014, the international terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) launched a large-scale offensive in Iraq. On January 1, 2014, IS militants attacked the city of Mosul, on January 2, they captured Ramadi, and on January 4, Iraqi troops left the city of Fallujah. The offensive was accompanied by a series of large-scale terrorist attacks in Baghdad and other major cities of the country. With great efforts, government forces managed to stabilize the situation and recapture a number of settlements. However, in June 2014, a new large-scale IS offensive began in northern Iraq. Over 1,300 armed militants have seized military installations and Mosul International Airport. Fearing a massacre, up to half a million of its inhabitants fled from the city. On June 11, IS militants captured the city of Tikrit, an important point on the way to Baghdad. There was a threat of the seizure of the capital of Iraq.
In these difficult conditions, the US stabbed the Iraqi government in the back. The US government has delayed the shipment to Iraq of a batch of F-16IQ fighters purchased by the Iraqis as part of a 12 billion package of contracts for the supply of US weapons to Iraq. The delivery was postponed indefinitely with a rather cynical statement in the current situation "until the security situation [in Iraq] improves." Along with the F-16IQ, the Iraqis were to receive guided bombs and other weapons that could help stop the IS offensive.
In the face of the actual refusal of the United States to supply the weapons needed by Baghdad, the Iraqi government turned to its long-standing and trusted partner in military-technical cooperation, Russia, for urgent assistance. Already on June 28, a few days after the appeal, the first five Su-25 attack aircraft were delivered to Iraq. They were supplied from the strategic reserve of the RF Ministry of Defense.
The attack aircraft were followed by artillery systems. On July 28, 2014, the first three TOS-1A Solntsepek heavy jet flamethrower systems were delivered to Baghdad by an An-124-100 Ruslan transport aircraft of Volga-Dnepr Airlines. The resulting equipment was soon sent into battle and helped to contain the IS offensive. Thus, Russia was not only able to return to the Iraqi arms market after a 20-year hiatus, but also helped the Iraqi authorities to keep the country from being captured by the Islamists.
The contrast played by Russian diplomats and arms exporters was also important. On the one hand, the Americans, who were considered allies of the new Iraqi government, but refused at a key moment to supply the Iraqis with F-16IQs, on the other, Russia, which promptly responded to the request of the Iraqi government.
THE PENTAGON CLEARLY FUCKED
Meanwhile, relations between Iraq and the United States continued to deteriorate. F-16IQ fighters, scheduled for delivery in September 2014, have not yet been delivered. The next named delivery date is the second half of 2015. Moreover, a number of reports appeared in the Iraqi media, citing sources in the country's intelligence circles, that the United States is supplying weapons to its adversary, IS militants. As evidence, the facts of dropping military cargo from US Air Force planes into territory controlled by militants, numerous photo and video evidence of the presence of American weapons by IS militants, and testimonies of individuals about the participation of the American military in the training of militants are cited. For all the controversy and conspiracy of the version of American support for IS, it enjoys considerable popularity among part of the Iraqi establishment. The facts of direct US support of Kurdish formations on the territory of Iraq, which are in opposition to the central government of the country, do not add to the understanding between the United States and Iraq. Against this background, a dive between American and Iraqi officials that took place after the seizure of the Ramadi settlement by IS in May of this year is indicative. Commenting on this event on the air of CNN, Pentagon chief Ashton Carter accused Iraqi troops of lack of morale: "We question the desire of the Iraqi authorities to resist IS and protect themselves."
In response, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that the head of the Pentagon "used false information about the strength and capabilities of the Iraqi army in the battles against IS". And Iraqi Interior Minister Muhammad Salem al-Gabban said on RT that the Iraqi authorities hope for Russia's help in their fight against the Islamists. All this creates an additional window of opportunity for Russia and Russian arms manufacturers for the supply of Russian military products to Iraq. A situation of mutually beneficial and supported financial-military-political cooperation, which is not so common on the arms market, arises. By supporting the secular government of Iraq, Russia is saving its longtime partner from destruction under the blows of the Islamists, thereby strengthening its military and political influence in the region.
