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Russian citizens fighting in Iraq to be held accountable under local law — ambassador

Iraq and Russia maintain close contacts over the issue

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/. The Russian citizens who arrived in Iraq to join the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia) will be held accountable for their actions under the Iraqi law if proved guilty, Iraq’s Ambassador in Moscow Haidar Mansour Hadi said in an interview with TASS.

Iraq and Russia maintain close contacts over the issue, he added.

"If they are guilty they will be tried by the Iraqi law. If they are not guilty, there is coordination between two parties and then they will come back if the Russian government allows them," Hadi said.

There are still Russian women and underage children in Iraq, according to the diplomat.

"Some of them [are] in Bagdad. Some are in the detention centers, probably around Mosul because most of the fighters were fighting in Mosul," Hadi said.

"We are working together - both sides - trying to collect information on how many children, how many women, how many fighters are still alive in Iraq, who are under captivity," he said.

According to the ambassador, the Iraqi embassy helps to evacuate the children to Russia.

"I think that is about 23 children plus, I think, four women. They returned to Russia. So we are working together to try to bring them all home," he said.

Hadi pointed out that the women who had arrived in Iraq but "were not involved in any fighting or any killing of Iraqi civilians, they will be free to leave the country.".