Lavrov also stated in Friday remarks, cited on Russian Foreign Ministry’s website, that Moscow would continue its extension of military support to Iraq in order to help protect the Arab country’s national sovereignty.

The development comes days after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki slammed US failure to deliver any of the 36 F-16 jetfighters purchased by Baghdad, blaming Washington for his country’s lack of air power to support its ground forces in repelling recent military intrusions into parts of Iraq by ISIL terrorists.

"I'll be frank and say that we were deluded when we signed the contract. We should have sought to buy other jet fighters like British, French and Russian to secure the air cover for our forces; if we had air cover we would have averted what had happened [by ISIL terrorists]," Maliki said during an interview with BBC on Thursday.

During the interview Maliki also announced that Iraq was acquiring "second-hand jet fighters from Russia that should arrive in Iraq in two or three days."

"God willing,” he said “within one week this force will be effective and will destroy the terrorists' dens."

Maliki added, Iraq had purchased a number of used Sukhoi fighter jets from Russia and Belarus, insisting that the aircraft could be flying missions across the country “within a few days.”

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