Russian President Vladimir Putin pushed for closer energy and military cooperation with Iraq.

Russian President Vladimir Putin pushed for closer energy and military cooperation with Iraq.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday pushed for closer energy and military cooperation with Iraq, seeking to rebuild ties that withered after Saddam Hussein's downfall and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Putin said during Wednesday talks with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that Russia's oil companies were willing to expand their operations in Iraq. He urged al-Maliki to ease company registration procedures and simplify other requirements to help boost ties.

"We see the development of trade and economic relations and the deepening of political dialogue as our contribution to the process of speeding up Iraq's return to peaceful life," Putin said after the talks.

Al-Maliki said during the negotiations that Iraq was willing to develop military and security cooperation with Russia.
The Iraqi PM told the Interfax news agency that Iraq may buy more than $4 billion of weapons from Russia, including helicopter gunships and air defense missiles.

"Iraq has had Soviet weapons, and it has highly-skilled experts who know how to use them," Interfax quoted al-Maliki as saying. "That's why we are interested in getting weapons from Russia."

Russia's private oil giant OAO Lukoil is among leading international oil companies now operating in Iraq, and is developing the 12.9 billion-barrel West Qurna Phase 2 field in southern Iraq.

In May, Lukoil and its partner, Japan's Inpex, won the exploration rights in the 5,500-square-kilometer (213-square-mile) Block 10 oil field, shared by southern provinces of Muthan and Thi Qar.