The Iraqi government has cancelled an arms deal with Russia worth £2.6 billion due to concerns over “corruption” within the Iraqi government.
The spokesman of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told the BBC that the prime minister had suspicions over his own team.
The deal would have made Russia Iraq’s second largest arms supplier after the US.
A Russian military expert told the BBC that the deal was cancelled due to pressure from Washington.
Igor Korotchenko, head of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of World Arms Trade, said that the cancellation was "absolutely unprecedented in the history of the Russian arms trade".
"As soon as the deal was announced a month ago I said that the US would not allow Iraq to buy such huge quantities of weapons from Russia. I believe Washington regarded this as an absolutely unacceptable scenario," he said.
"As far as talk about corruption is concerned, I think it's a smokescreen," he said, adding: "I can't see any scope for corruption in the Iraq deal. I believe this is just a pretext and the true reason is Washington applying pressure on Baghdad."
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
