Russia and Iraq Plan to Collaborate to Fight the Islamic State

On May 21, Russia and Iraq announced plans to collaborate to combat the threat of the Islamic State in the Middle East and Iraq. The two countries will expand multiple facets of their relationship. Not only does Russia plan to sell or provide Iraq with weapons, but Russia also has intentions to invest in Iraq’s economy, specifically in its oil and gas sector.

This announcement came in the wake of Ramadi’s fall to ISIS, which highlighted the limited capabilities of the Iraqi army and ongoing U.S. airstrikes. Currently, the U.S. is limiting its on-the-ground military involvement, keeping just 3,000 troops in Iraq to help train Iraqi soldiers. Although the U.S. is going to send 1,000 anti-tank rockets to the Iraqi military to help counter suicide bomb vehicles, officials from both countries have come forward criticizing each other. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said over the weekend that Iraqi forces showed no will to fight against ISIS. Meanwhile, Iraq’s former national security adviser Muafak Ruba’i said that the U.S. is not serious about fighting ISIS and has different strategies in Iraq and Syria, rather than one clear, comprehensive strategy.

While the U.S. and Iraq have been working together in recent years to provide stability to Iraq and to combat terrorism, the relationship between Iraq and Russia has also been developing. The previous Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, made various arrangements with Russia that are valued at $2 billion that never came to fruition, and the current Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, wishes to follow up on them. Additionally, much of the Middle East, including Iraq, is wary of its relationship with the U.S for a number of reasons. For example, the U.S. withdrew its troops from Iraq in 2011, before the Iraqi government was actually stable and had the ability to operate on its own. Furthermore, the countries remember how the U.S. was closely allied with Hosni Mubarak in Egypt but then praised the popular uprising against him. They want to strengthen their geopolitical relationships beyond the U.S. alone in order to avoid being similarly hurt by a country they viewed as an ally.

The relationship between Russia and Iraq developed in the 1990s, when Russia supported an Iraq that was internationally isolated due to UN sanctions. This allowed Russia to gain access to Iraq’s oil industry, and it was beginning to develop profitable oil wells when the U.S. invaded in 2003 to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Russia is now looking to regain its holdings in Iraq’s oil industry and to provide a counterbalance to U.S. influence in the region.

Russia is demonstrating an increasing interest in asserting itself in the Middle East. It is offering countries opportunities to buy weapons without asking questions, a relief for countries trying to obtain arms from the U.S. and running into trouble with strict U.S. inquisitions. During the Cold War, the world was dominated by two separate superpowers: the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Today, the Soviet Union is long gone, but Russia is trying to rebuild the empire that it once held. The Middle East is full of regional conflict, providing an excellent opportunity for necessary foreign intervention. By courting these countries with uninhibited arms deals, Russia is attempting to regain its place in the world order as a superpower, a move that could be detrimental to American interests in the region. To combat Russia’s growing influence, the U.S. should formulate more clear-cut policies in the Middle East, and it should follow through with them to rebuild trust of American regional commitment.