The agreement is a follow-up to a decision by the Russian government to clear 80% of Baghdad's Soviet-era debt in line with accords reached through the Paris Club of creditor nations.
Iraq's debt to Russia is estimated at $10-13 billion. The Iraqi embassy earlier said the deal would be signed during a visit by Iraq's foreign minister to Moscow on February 11.
The Iraqi government expected the intergovernmental deal to be signed before the end of 2007. Some media said the delay was due to Iraq's cancelation of a 1997 contract with Russian oil company LUKoil on the West Qurna-2 oil field, one of Iraq's richest. But both countries' authorities dismissed the allegations.
Hoshyar Zebari said last September that his country could offer Russian oil and gas companies considerable advantages to operate in Iraq, but ruled out that this could be linked to the debt settlement issue
