MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. Russia expects that Iraq will be able to select a candidate for the country’s prime minister in due time, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Thursday.
"Now the country’s president is holding intense consultations with key parliamentary blocs on a candidate for the new chief of the cabinet of ministers," Zakharova said. "We expect that a consensus solution will be found within a timeframe set by the Iraqi Constitution and actually, a power vacuum will be prevented. It is dangerous because it could trigger a domestic political crisis."
Zakharova emphasized that Russia supports steps by the Iraqi authorities aimed at establishing national inclusive dialogue taking into account all ethnic and religious groups and also at launching social and economic reforms.
The diplomat stressed that it’s up to Iraqi citizens to decide on domestic political issues without any foreign meddling. "We hope that the troubled Iraqi people <...> won’t again become a hostage of someone’s political games and ambitions, and that Iraq won’t turn into an arena of settling accounts between external players," Zakharova noted.
In three days the deadline will expire for selecting a candidate for the prime minister to take over from Adil Abdul-Mahdi, who stepped down on November 30. There is still no candidate for this post. Two out of three key factions in the parliament have refused to take part in this process.
Thousands of people have been protesting in downtown Baghdad, demanding establishing a new government as soon as possible, dissolving the parliament and holding an early election. The demonstrators refuse to halt protests until their demands are met.
US pressure on Turkey over S-400 contract
Washington takes steps impermissible in modern international relations when it exerts pressure on Ankara over Turkey’s purchase of Russia’s air defense systems S-400, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told a news briefing on Thursday.
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"Relations between two sovereign countries do not require comments by a third sovereign country," she said. "But in the polemics that has been on we’ve seen allusions to us."
"We believe that such polemics is impermissible, because it’s outright pressure. There have been other examples of Washington’s pressure on a number of states. Not just in relation to Turkey, the S-400 and Russia-related issues," Zakharova went on. "The policy of sanction pressure or intimidation is impermissible in the existing system of coordinates of international relations."
On Wednesday, the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate approved of a package of sanctions against Turkey and its financial sector in connection with Ankara’s military operation in northeastern Syria and the purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defense systems. The bill is now to go before the Senate. Some amendments may be made. The US Congress House of Representatives approved of a similar bill at the end of October.
The initiative obliges President Donald Trump to impose restrictions on officials involved in the military operation in Syria, including Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar. Also, the bill says, Washington will be obliged to impose restrictions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) in connection with Ankara’s purchase of S-400.