Russia will consider the political and military expediency of its participation in operations against the Islamic State terrorist organisation in Iraq, if requested by the republic's leadership, the speaker of Russia’s Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko said.
"As long as there is no such treatment, we shall not try to guess," Matviyenko noted.
October 1st Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called for the expansion of Russian air operations on the territory of the republic. "If we get an invitation we will consider it, and I would welcome it," he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow was not planning to expand its air strikes to Iraq. "We were not invited or asked. We are a polite people, as you know. We don't come if we're not invited," he stressed.
