President Putin stated he is aware of the struggle of the Kurdish people, including the exertion of Mr Barzani’s late father, Mulla Mustafa Barzani, who lived in exile in Moscow for several years in the 1950s

The President of Russia Vladimir Putin received Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani in Moscow on Tuesday for talks on consolidating bilateral relations and to progress with their historic friendship that exists between the peoples of Russia and Kurdistan. The economic and cultural collaboration as well as the functional role of Russian companies in the reconstruction development in both Kurdistan and Iraq were principal matters of their meeting. The two sides recapitulated their historic friendship must be further augmented. President Barzani said the Kurdistan Region is committed to the Iraqi Constitution and, as part of Iraq it endeavours to reach out to the outside world for mutual advantage and liaison. President Putin stated he is aware of the struggle of the Kurdish people, including the exertion of Mr Barzani’s late father, Mulla Mustafa Barzani, who lived in exile in Moscow for several years in the 1950s. Mr Barzani arrived in Moscow on an official two-day visit with a high-level Kurdistan Region delegation where he is also due to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other key government officials. During his stay in Moscow, Mr Barzani visited the headquarters of Russia’s oil and gas company ‘Gazprom’ where he met with the Chairman of the Management Committee, Alexey Miller to discuss in a meeting establishing long-term partnership between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Gazprom that included a power and energy alliance. The two sides agreed such partnership will in addition benefit the rest of Iraq