Lavrov in Iraq to Discuss US Sanctions over Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein hold a press conference at the ministry of foreign affairs in Baghdad on February 6, 2023. (Photo by Handout / Russian Foreign Ministry / AFP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein hold a press conference at the ministry of foreign affairs in Baghdad on February 6, 2023. (Photo by Handout / Russian Foreign Ministry / AFP)
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Lavrov in Iraq to Discuss US Sanctions over Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein hold a press conference at the ministry of foreign affairs in Baghdad on February 6, 2023. (Photo by Handout / Russian Foreign Ministry / AFP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein hold a press conference at the ministry of foreign affairs in Baghdad on February 6, 2023. (Photo by Handout / Russian Foreign Ministry / AFP)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iraqi counterpart on Monday discussed unpaid bills owed to Russian oil companies because of US sanctions over the Ukraine conflict.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told a Baghdad news conference that he would discuss the issue during a visit to Washington on Wednesday.

"The sanctions should not be imposed on Iraq because its cooperation continues with Russian companies," Hussein told reporters.

Since the Ukraine war began nearly a year ago, the United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Russian officials, banks and financial institutions, raising fears in third countries about any transactions involving Russia.

Hussein said Russian oil and gas companies operating in Iraq were still awaiting some payments, without specifying how much was due.

Standing alongside Lavrov, he said: "We have discussed how to manage these defaults in light of the sanctions imposed on Russia and the protection of Iraqi banks and its central bank."

He said there would be a meeting "in the coming months" of a joint committee on bilateral relations with Russia to discuss the issue.

Lavrov meanwhile criticized the Western measures, describing them as "illegal".

"Under the current conditions of illegal restrictions imposed by the Americans and their proxies, it is very important to protect legal economic relations from illegal Western pressure," Lavrov said.

"This is what many countries in the region are doing, switching instead of the dollar to payments in the currencies of other reliable countries, in particular for oil deliveries," he added.

Hussein reiterated Baghdad's support for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

"We support a ceasefire between both parties so negotiations to end this truly global crisis can begin," he said.



Wilful Restriction on Food Aid in Gaza May Constitute War Crime, Says UN Rights Office

A general view over rows of tents housing internally displaced Palestinians along the waterfront in Gaza, 02 June 2025. According to the UN, at least 1.9 million people (or nine in ten people) across the Gaza Strip are internally displaced, including people who have been repeatedly displaced. EPA/HAITHAM IMAD
A general view over rows of tents housing internally displaced Palestinians along the waterfront in Gaza, 02 June 2025. According to the UN, at least 1.9 million people (or nine in ten people) across the Gaza Strip are internally displaced, including people who have been repeatedly displaced. EPA/HAITHAM IMAD
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Wilful Restriction on Food Aid in Gaza May Constitute War Crime, Says UN Rights Office

A general view over rows of tents housing internally displaced Palestinians along the waterfront in Gaza, 02 June 2025. According to the UN, at least 1.9 million people (or nine in ten people) across the Gaza Strip are internally displaced, including people who have been repeatedly displaced. EPA/HAITHAM IMAD
A general view over rows of tents housing internally displaced Palestinians along the waterfront in Gaza, 02 June 2025. According to the UN, at least 1.9 million people (or nine in ten people) across the Gaza Strip are internally displaced, including people who have been repeatedly displaced. EPA/HAITHAM IMAD

The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday that the wilful impediment of access to food and relief for civilians in Gaza may constitute a war crime, describing attacks on civilians trying to access food aid as unconscionable. 

"For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the 'Gaza Humanitarian Foundation'," the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Jeremy Laurence told reporters in Geneva. 

At least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire near a food distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, local health authorities said, in the third day of chaos and bloodshed to affect the aid operation. 

The Israeli military said its forces had opened fire on a group of individuals who had left designated access routes near the distribution center in Rafah. On June 1, some 32 people were killed and on Monday three people were killed, according to the OHCHR. 

The head of the UN agency, Volker Turk, urged a prompt and impartial investigation into attacks on Palestinians trying to receive food aid. 

"Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law, and a war crime," Turk said in a statement. 

The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation launched its first distribution sites last week in an effort to alleviate widespread hunger amongst Gaza's war-battered population, most of whom have had to abandon their homes to flee fighting. 

The foundation's aid plan, which bypasses traditional aid groups, has come under fierce criticism from the United Nations and established charities which say it does not follow humanitarian principles. 

The private group, which is endorsed by Israel, said it distributed 21 truckloads of food early on Tuesday and that the aid operation was "conducted safely and without incident within the site".