The leaders of Russia and Iraq have agreed to develop large-scale cooperation in defence, energy and investment.

Russian government said it had recently signed arms deals with Iraq worth over $4.2 billion dollars, which makes Iraq Russia's second largest defence customer after India.

Massive as the arms contracts are, they may be dwarfed by civilian deals the Iraqi leader discussed in Moscow.

At their meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Mr. Maliki agreed to draw up joint projects in hydrocarbons, power generation, trade, investment and construction.

Iraq and Russia have aired their discomfort with Turkey at a time when tensions seemed to be escalating close to the Syrian border. The Turkish government has strengthened its military presence by deploying 25 F-16 fighter jets at its Diyarbakir base, only 100 km from Syria.

The United States has also sent a 150-member task force to Jordan as part of contingency plan in case Syria loses control over its chemical weapons. According to the New York Times, the team would be deployed at a base, which is only 56 km from the Syrian border.