Putin poster in Baghdad torn down hours after erected

Fazel Hawramy

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A poster of Russian President Vladimir Putin was torn down by unidentified men in the early hours of Thursday morning, hours after it was erected in the center of Baghdad as the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn Russian aggression in Ukraine, despite Iraq abstaining. 

The poster was erected on Wednesday evening in al-Jadiriyah neighborhood, next to a base belonging to a pro-Iranian Iraqi militia group, reportedly Asaib Ahl al-Haq,  where posters of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the slain Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Qasem Soleimani were also on display.

“We Support Russia” the text on the poster read in English with a photo of the Russian strongman raising his index finger. Also written on the bottom of the poster was the hashtag “Friends of the President.” 

The Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in Iraq also shared a photo of the poster, with the caption reading "on the streets of Baghdad."

 

The Russian offensive on a UN recognized sovereign state prompted the General Assembly to hold an emergency session requested by the Security Council to overwhelmingly condemn the invasion, and calling on Putin to withdraw his forces from Ukraine. 

The resolution was backed by 141 countries which deplored “in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine” and called on Putin to cease the use of force and “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces”. 

Iraq abstained, in an attempt to maintain neutrality and to balance its relations with both the US and Russia. 

The Russian aggression has caused widespread protests across the world condemning the Russian crimes in Ukraine where at least 350 civilians have died and over 2,000 have been wounded. 

Dozens of Ukrainians based in the Kurdistan Region held a protest on Sunday in Erbil. “All my family is in Ukraine, my close relatives are in Kyiv, some are in other governorates. They refused to leave, they did not want to flee,” 35-year-old Antonina whose father is ethnically Russian told Rudaw's Dilan Sirwan.

Around one million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries including Romania, Moldova, and Poland. 

On Wednesday night in Baghdad, Rudaw's reporter Mustafa Goran visited the al-Jadriya neighborhood just after 11:00 pm where he was allowed to record a video without a microphone by members of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq who were standing next to the poster. 

“People drove by and they were perplexed to see the poster,” Mustafa Goran said from the capital Baghdad on Thursday. “I asked permission from the Asaib members who were standing next to the poster to film.” Hours later, another video posted online showed unidentified men tearing down the poster.

Iraq has close economic ties with Russia as a number of Russian oil companies operate both in the Kurdistan Region and in oilfields in southern Iraq.