TEHRAN – Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Iran and Russia enjoy “strategic ties” and welcomed expansion of relations, Mehr reported.

It is essential to expand cooperation in various spheres, Putin said during a meeting with Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in Moscow on Wednesday.

Velayati also said that the strategic ties between Iran and Russia can help establish peace and stability in the Middle East region.

In a televised interview aired on Thursday, Velayati said that the Syrian people and government as well as the resistance movement will definitely be the final winner in the war on terrorism.

He also said that the Russian president is determined to fight terrorism in Syria to rescue the Syrians.

Velayati was visiting Moscow on the invitation of Russian Strategic Research Institute’s director Leonid Reshetnikov.

--------- Iran, Russia secure implementation of $40b deals

Velayati elsewhere said that Tehran and Moscow have secured the implementation of a series of recently-inked contracts with a worth of around 40 billion dollars, Sputnik reported on Thursday.

The contracts between Russia and Iran concern the construction of the second and third units of the Bushehr nuclear power plant as well as the development of the Islamic Republic’s railways among others, he explained.

“Over the past months, in the course of numerous visits to various departments, contracts worth around $40 billion were signed. They have already been initialed and are ready to be implemented. They are just waiting for loans and financing from the Russian side, and during our meeting with Putin we were reassured that this would be done, and that [Iran] would take these very important steps together with Russia,” Velayati told reporters.


NA/PA