Exciting information provided by Vladimir Titorenko - the last Russian ambassador to Iraq before the US invasion - about his participation in a closed meeting held by a delegation of Russian experts with the Americans in the United States a week after the events of September 11, 2001, to discuss the situation in Iraq.

In his interview with a Russian channel in 2013, Titorenko said that economic issues related to Iraq were supposed to be discussed, but the conversation took a completely different direction and turned into an interrogation report by US intelligence agents about Iraq's readiness to confront an all-out war.

Despite the removal of Titorenko's statements from the channel’s website - after it sparked a sensation - questions remain about Russia’s role and the reasons it overlooked the invasion of Iraq.

Al-Aqidi believes that Russia has never had firm attitudes towards the Arab countries (Al-Jazeera Net)

Russia's position before the invasion

Baghdad's relationship with Russia during the era of the late President Saddam Hussein was based on Iraq's desire to rely on Moscow.

Being a permanent member of the United Nations, and to gain its support in standing up to America, which has declared its explicit desire to change the regime in Iraq, according to the professor of modern and contemporary Iraq history, Dr. Bashar Fathi Al-Aqidi.

Al-Akidi added to Al-Jazeera Net, that despite all the economic temptations offered by Iraq to Russia - especially the oil concessions at the time - the course of events and their developments led Russia to change its position towards Iraq and disavow its support.

Al-Akidi points out that Russia has never been steadfast in its stances towards all Arab countries. Rather, it changes according to its interests and relinquishes its positions and allies in the most difficult circumstances and times.

At the beginning, Russia took a position opposing the US invasion of Iraq, before retreating because of its unwillingness to stand up to the United States, and that position was reflected in the relations between the two countries, according to Al-Aqidi’s talk, as well as its desire to play a major role in the region based on its complete conviction of the seriousness of the states. The United States will change the political reality in Iraq, and its thoughts on gaining these developments to restore the prestige and role of Russia, in terms of being an active pole in global politics.

Hamzah believes that the United States did not need to make much effort to persuade Russia to give up its influence in Iraq (Al-Jazeera Net)

Secret talks

On the details of the Russian-American meeting on Iraq, Dr. Ammar Fadel Hamzah - a professor of contemporary Arab history - says that they are still kept confidential and shrouded in secrecy, and even the information reported by Titorenko has been withheld most of it.

He added to Al-Jazeera Net, that through this scattered information, it can be said that the United States was keen to collect accurate detailed information about the operational characteristics and the destructive power of the Iraqi army weapon, that weapon that became before the American invasion of Iraq represents a rich press material with which Western journalists expected to end Saddam Hussein will fight with America at the appropriate moments when Russian chemical technology - and perhaps biological - is released to defeat the advancing army towards the walls of Baghdad.

Hamzah continues, "From my readings of the history of Iraqi-Russian relations, and through the American intelligence role, I do not think that the United States has relied too much on information that the Russians can provide in this regard, because it tried friction with the Iraqi army with all its weapons and power in the 1991 Gulf War."

He expresses his belief that the United States wanted to neutralize Russia and obtain a position consistent with American aspirations to topple Saddam's regime, but the Russian public stance has remained intransigent and hard-line towards striking Iraq and overthrowing the regime, and he remained rejected until the last moment.

Hamzah states that Russia knows very well that it is very difficult for the Iraqi army to be able to repel the American invasion, even if it sponsored it and supplied it with weapons and technology, but it seems that there were American fears of an Iraqi surprise, and therefore any information that the Russians could provide may constitute an addition The quality of US intelligence information, but it will not have an impact on the outcome of the war with Iraq.

He believes that the United States does not need to exert more efforts to persuade Russia to give up its presence and influence in Iraq, as there were more than 20 Russian companies working in the field of oil investments and in the field of developing the electricity sector from the beginning of the nineties until 2003.

Al-Kurdi ruled out Russia's remorse for turning a blind eye to America's invasion of Iraq (Al-Jazeera Net)

Abandon Saddam

There was a Russian dream that the Iraqi arena would turn into a deadly security dilemma for the Americans, especially in light of the Iraqi extension to the Arab world and its ethnic and sectarian diversity.

He added to Al-Jazeera Net, that there is a great benefit from the US invasion of Iraq, which would have freed the Russians from digitizing energy prices with an American will at the global level and investing in Iraqi memory towards Russia - as a superpower - from the economic returns that will leave the invasion;

Such as reconstruction and oil investments.

Al-Kurdi attributes the Russian tolerance of the invasion of Iraq to a group of interests.

These include preoccupation of the Americans with arcs of crises far from the Russian sphere regionally and internationally, and the possibility of obtaining American silence and bargaining with the Americans over fateful Russian issues in the republics of the former Soviet Union, as well as preparing Arab thought for future Russian expansion.

Russia hopes that the US invasion of Iraq will turn into a security dilemma that troubles Americans (Getty Images - Archive)

Al-Kurdi excludes Russia’s remorse for turning a blind eye to the US invasion of Iraq.

This is because the United States bore the material and human costs of the invasion, in addition to the sovereign debt crisis, which weakened the American economy and created an American popular backlash, and all of this is in the interest of Russia.

Al-Kurdi continues that Russia reaped many of the fruits after the invasion, such as developing painful thorns for the American side strategically, such as developing Russian-Iranian relations in the nuclear field, highlighting the Russian face in the mentality of third world countries and exporting it as an alternative that is politically and economically more favorable to the American face, while opening new horizons for Russian expansion. In the Middle East, like being on the Syrian and Libyan arenas

For his part, Dr. Hamzah compares the level of Iraqi-Russian relations with two countries that have established exemplary relations with Russia, namely Iran and Syria, and when you understand the nature of Iranian-Russian relations and the great support that Russia has provided - and is still providing - to Iran and Syria, it can be concluded that Russia sacrificed Iraq in exchange for strengthening its influence. And its position more and more in both Iran and Syria.

Al-Janabi believes that Russia will have a greater role in future Iraq (Al-Jazeera Net)

The Russian role today

Russia realized the error of its strategic calculations after losing one country after another from its strategic system in Iraq, Libya, Syria and others, as it lost its status, role, position, depth and wealth, and this is a real threat to it, according to academic and researcher in strategic relations, Dr. Hazem Hamad Al-Janabi.

Al-Janabi explains to Al-Jazeera Net that Russia hastened to rectify its calculations, establishing the "Quadripartite Information Center" in 2015, holding a diplomatic ceremony for more than 75 years of Russian-ethnic relations, and signing economic, commercial and technical memoranda of understanding, and reactivating 20 old agreements, including the energy use agreement. Atomic Energy Agency 1975, and worked to increase the volume of Russian investments in the energy field, exceeding 14 billion dollars.

Al-Janabi adds that, no matter what, Russia rejects US unilateralism and seeks to reconfigure Russian security alliances in the Middle East, which are centered on Iraq

Being aware that Iraq influences the regional strategic balance and is a path for international strategic alliances.

Based on the foregoing, Al-Janabi believes that the Russian role in Iraq will have more influence in the future.

As a result of the great change in the Russian role in the region, Iraq, in the strategy of the United States, is located in the Russian strategic scope, and it is an important part of Russia's strategic triangle (Iran-Iraq-Syria), after the Russians realized that there was a change in the American position in the Iraqi political decision. Now is an attempt to build a new international Russian alliance under the title "Collective Security".