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Oil exports unaffected by situation around Iraqi Kurdistan - Iraq’s Ambassador to Russia

"Iraqi governments exports [oil] - it is business - as usual. There are no drops," Iraq’s Ambassador to Russia Haidar Mansour Hadi said

MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/. The situation around Iraqi Kurdistan has not affected oil exports and no drops have been recorded, Iraq’s Ambassador to Russia Haidar Mansour Hadi said in an interview with TASS.

"Iraqi governments exports [oil] - it is business - as usual. There are no drops," the diplomat said.

"Iraqi Government has made steps to get control of all oil exports and also of the borders with other countries like Syria, Turkey and Iran," Hadi said. "This is responsibility of the Federal Government, it needs to control them in coordination with the Kurdistan region."

"Unfortunately, in the past the Federal Government was not involved in oil exports from the region and export of goods through borders," the diplomat said. "But now the Prime Minister made it clear that the Federal Government will have a say in these areas, on these and other borders, airports. That's also under the Constitution."

Iraq’s Kurdistan region held an independence referendum on September 25. The Kurdish independent electoral commission reported two days later that more than 90% voters said yes to independence from Iraq. Baghdad strongly opposes the referendum, calling it unconstitutional.

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq, also known as Iraqi Kurdistan, is an autonomous region in the north of Iraq, with its legal status fixed in the Iraqi constitution of 2005.