List of ambassadors of Russia to Iraq

Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Iraq
سفير الاتحاد الروسي لدى جمهورية العراق
Emblem of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Incumbent Elbrus Kutrashev since 8 April 2021
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Embassy of Russia in Baghdad
Style	His Excellency The Honorable
Reports to	Minister of Foreign Affairs
Residence	The Embassy
Seat	Baghdad, Iraq
Appointer	The President
Term length	At the pleasure of the President
Formation	29 November 1944
First holder	Grigory Zaitsev
Website	Embassy of Russia- Baghdad

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Iraq is the official representative of the President and the Government of the Russian Federation to the Prime Minister and the Government of Iraq.

The ambassador and his staff work at large in the Embassy of Russia in Baghdad. There is a Russian consulate-general in Erbil. The current ambassador is Elbrus Kutrashev, incumbent since 8 April 2021.

Background

See also: Iraq–Russia relations

The historic relations between Russia and Iraq began when the latter was part of the Ottoman Empire. The Russian imperial government still showed wide interest in the region. Since the 19th century, a Russian consulate was functioning in Baghdad, due to the Shia Muslims' pilgrimage to the holy cities of Baghdad, Karbala and Najaf. After the Russian Empire annexed the North Caucasus and Central Asia this further increased due to the large Shia populations native to those regions. According to the Russian consul in Baghdad on 19 November 1890, 19,500 pilgrims from the North Caucasus and Central Asia visited the holy shrines in Iraq. However, after the end of the Ottoman rule in the region, the diplomatic mission was ended.

Soviet Union re-established diplomatic ties with newly independent Iraq on 9 September 1944. In 1955, relations were disrupted by the Iraqi side. In July 1958, both countries resumed diplomatic relations.

Timeline of the diplomatic relations

• 25 August - 9 September 1944 - diplomatic relations were established at the mission level.
• 3 January - 8 January 1955 - diplomatic relations were interrupted by the Iraqi government.
• 18 July 1958 - an agreement was reached on the resumption of diplomatic relations at the embassy level.

List of representatives (1944 – present)

Representatives of the Soviet Union to the Kingdom of Iraq (1944 - 1958)

Name	Title	Appointment	Termination	Notes
Grigory Zaitsev	Envoy	29 November 1944	20 January 1949
Ivan Yakushin	Chargé d'affaires	1952	8 January 1955
Diplomatic relations interrupted (1955 - 1958)

Representatives of the Soviet Union to the First Iraqi Republic (1958 - 1968)

Name	Title	Appointment	Termination	Notes
Grigory Zaitsev	Ambassador	31 July 1958	15 October 1961
Mikhail Yakovlev	Ambassador	15 October 1961	7 August 1965
Vasily Nikolayev	Ambassador	7 August 1965	1968

Representatives of the Soviet Union to the Second Iraqi Republic (1968 - 1991)

Name	Title	Appointment	Termination	Notes
Vasily Nikolayev	Ambassador	1968	17 December 1969
Veniamin Likhachyov	Ambassador	20 February 1970	29 December 1973
Anatoly Barkovsky	Ambassador	29 December 1973	17 March 1982
Viktor Minin	Ambassador	17 March 1982	19 December 1989
Viktor Posluvalyuk	Ambassador	13 March 1990	25 December 1991

Representatives of the Russian Federation to the Second Iraqi Republic (1991 - 2003)

Name	Title	Appointment	Termination	Notes
Viktor Posluvalyuk	Ambassador	13 March 1990	22 April 1992
Nikolai Kartuzov	Ambassador	22 August 1994	6 August 1999
Aleksandr Shein	Ambassador	9 August 1999	29 March 2002
Vladimir Titorenko	Ambassador	29 March 2002	16 May 2003

Representatives of the Russian Federation to the Coalition Provisional Authority (2003 - 2004)

Name	Title	Appointment	Termination	Notes
Vladimir Titorenko	Ambassador	16 May 2003	8 December 2003
Ilya Morgunov	Chargé d'affaires	8 December 2003	28 June 2004

Representatives of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Iraq (2004 - present)

Name	Title	Appointment	Termination	Notes
Ilya Morgunov	Chargé d'affaires	28 June 2004	3 March 2005
Vladimir Chamov	Ambassador	3 March 2005	16 October 2008
Valeryan Shuvayev	Ambassador	16 October 2008	2 March 2012
Ilya Morgunov	Ambassador	2 March 2012	3 October 2016
Maksim Maksimov	Ambassador	3 October 2016	8 April 2021
Elbrus Kutrashev	Ambassador	8 April 2021

See also

• Foreign relations of Iraq

External links

• List of Soviet ambassadors to Iraq, from 1944-55
• List of Soviet ambassadors to Iraq from 1955-91
• Iraq at Ministry of Foreign Affairs