AMMAN, October 6. /TASS/. The speaker of the upper house of Russia’s parliament (Federation Council) Valentina Matviyenko believes that Russia will consider the political and military expediency of its participation in an air operation in Iraq, should it get an official request from that country.

"If there is an official message from Iraq to the Russian Federation, we will consider the political and military expediency of our air force’s participation in the operation. There has been no such request so far," Matviyenko told the media after a meeting with Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh on Tuesday.

Russia’s Federation Council on September 30 voted to empower the president to use armed forces in Syria. As the head of the presidential staff Sergey Ivanov said that in Syria Russia would be using only its warplanes against the terrorist organization Islamic State (outlawed in Russia) at the request of President Bashar Assad.

Russia’s air and space force started dealing pinpoint strikes against Islamic State targets on September 30. Its air group consists of 50 jets and helicopters, including Sukhoi-24M and Sukhoi-25 and the newest multi-role Sukhoi-34. Over the past few days Russian planes hit dozens of terrorist targets.