Russia's Lavrov arrives in Baghdad amid heavy diplomatic traffic

Shafaq News/ Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, has arrived in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on the top of a high-profile delegation, Iraq's foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

The delegation, according to the statement, consists of government officers, diplomats, and representatives of Russian firms and media organizations.

Since the inauguration of Mohammad Shia al-Sudani's cabinet, Baghdad has been at the center of heavy diplomatic traffic. A series of diplomatic wins, capped by the deal with France's TotalEnergies, provides some respite for al-Sudani from Iraq's economic strife and offers a blueprint of his governance strategy.

Diplomats from all over the globe have visited the Iraqi capital in queues. Recently, Saudi Arabia and Morocco's foreign ministers were in Baghdad for energy and regional security talks. The US also keeps patent channels with Iraq, with President Joe Biden holding a joint phone call with al-Sudani and Jordan's King Abdullah II last week. The phone call was preceded by a visit of the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, Brett McGurk, to Baghdad where he met with Iraq's premier and other senior officeholders in the country.