Soviet-Iraqi Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation
the fields of trade, transport and communications between
them on the basis of the principles of equality, mutual benefit
and the most-favoured nation principle.
Article 6. The high Contracting Parties further agree to make
joint studies and take point action in the fields of flood control,
river basin development and the development of hydro-electric
power and irrigation.
Article 7. The high Contracting Parties shall promote rela-
tions in the fields of art, literature, education, culture, sports
and health.
Article 8. In accordance with the ties of friendship existing
between the two countries each of the high Contracting Parties
solemnly declares that it shall not enter into or participate in
any military alliance directed against the other party.
Each of the high Contracting Parties shall refrain from any
aggression against the other party and shall not allow the use of
its territory for committing any act that may cause military
damage to or constitute a threat to the security of the other high
contracting party.
Article 9. Each of the high Contracting Parties shall refrain
from giving any assistance to any third party taking part in an
armed conflict, against the other party. In case either party is
attacked or threatened with attack, the high contracting parties
shall immediately enter into mutual consultations in order to
take appropriate effective measures to eliminate the threat and
thus ensure the peace and security of their countries.
Article 10. Each of the high Contracting Parties solemnly
declares that it shall not undertake any commitment secret or
open, toward one or more States which may be incompatible
with the present Treaty.
Article 11. The present Treaty is signed for a term of twenty
five years and shall be subject to renewal by mutual agreement
of the high Contracting Parties.
The Treaty shall come into force with immediate effect from
the date of its signature.
Article 12. Any differences in interpreting any article or arti-
cles of the present Treaty that may arise between the high Con-
tracting Parties shall be settled on a bilateral basis by peaceful
means in a spirit of mutual respect and understanding.
Done in Dacca on the nineteenth day of March nineteen
hundred and seventy two.
INDIRA GANDHI
Prime Minister
For the Republic of India
SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN
Prime Minister
For the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
4.1396 Soviet-Iraqi Treaty of Friendship and
Co-operation
Alliance Members:Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Iraq
Signed On:April 9, 1972, in the city of Baghdad (Iraq). In force until
September 12, 1990.
Alliance Type:Entente (Type III)
Source:Soviet News,no. 5633, April 11, 1972, p. 113.SUMMARY
Cooperation between Russia and Iraq began during the late 1950s
when the pro-Western monarchy that ruled Iraq was overthrown. In
1972, the two nations formalized their relationship with this treaty of
friendship and co-operation. After the treaty was signed, the Soviets
increased arms shipments, including MiG fighters and bombers,
ground tactical missiles, T-72 tanks, and several types of anti-tank
weapons, to aid Iraq in its conflict with Kurdish rebels. That same year
Iraq nationalized its oil industry and began shipping large amounts of
oil to the Soviet Union.
Bilateral relations weakened somewhat over the next decade. In
December 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, and Saddam
Hussein condemned the invasion of another Islamic country. Less
than a year later, when Iraq invaded Iran, the Soviet Union cut off
arms shipments in protest. Gradually, however, the mutually advanta-
geous relationship of oil for arms overcame diplomatic tensions, and
the Soviet Union became Iraq’s largest supplier of arms and military
technology in the 1980s. The alliance ended in 1990 when President
Mikhail Gorbachev and the Russian Parliament broke relations fol-
lowing the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
The following description of terms contains excerpts of the official
text of the treaty, which is unpublished.Description of Terms
Article I. Iraq and the USSR declared that “inviolable friendship
will exist between the two countries and their peoples” and that
they would develop all-around co-operation in the political,
economic, trade, scientific, technical and other fields “on the
basis of respect for State sovereignty, territorial integrity and
noninterference in one another’s internal affairs.”
Article 2. The two countries would “co-operate closely and
comprehensively in ensuring conditions for preserving and fur-
ther developing the social and economic gains of their people
and respect for the sovereignty of each of them over all their
natural resources.”
Article 3 stated that Iraq and the USSR would “continue to
come out for peace throughout the world, for the easing of
international tensions, and for the attainment of general and
complete disarmament, encompassing both nuclear and con-
ventional weapons, under effective international control.”
Article 4 said that both countries “condemn imperialism and
colonialism in all their forms and manifestations” and would
“continue to wage an undeviating struggle against imperialism
and Zionism [and] for the complete ...abolition of colonial-
ism and neo-colonialism, racialism and apartheid.”
Article 5. Iraq and the USSR would “expand and deepen”
their co-operation in the economic, technical and scientific