Russia’s Putin to meet Ayatollah Khamenei in Tehran: ambassador

July 16, 2022 - 13:43

TEHRAN - Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, Leader of the Islamic Revolution, during his visit to Tehran later this week, the Russian ambassador to Iran has said.

"We expect (Putin) to meet with the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and his meetings with President (Ebrahim) Raisi," Levan Dzhagaryan told the Rossiya-24 television, Tasnim News reported.

Dzhagaryan said he had "the highest expectations" that the exchange of opinions on a wide range of both bilateral and regional issues raised by the Russian and Iranian presidents at the sixth Caspian Sea summit would be continued during Putin’s visit.

On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that on July 19 Putin would make a visit to Tehran where he would meet with the Iranian and Turkish presidents.

Mohammad Reza Pour Ebrahimi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s Economic Committee, has said the visit aims to boost economic cooperation between Tehran and Moscow.

He stressed that Russia is serious about expanding its economic relations with Iran and that planning for this goal will be at the top of Putin's agenda in his meeting with Iran's high-ranking officials.

He added that the U.S. and European sanctions on Russia have caused a sharpening of Russian interest in economic and commercial dealings with Iran.

The lawmaker explained that after the January visit of the Iranian president, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, to Russia, a positive atmosphere was created in Moscow regarding economic cooperation with Iran. Very good agreements were signed during that visit, he added.

Iran-Russia cooperation has increased in recent months, with the two sides mulling expansion of ties in various economic fields. In July, Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Governor Ali Saleh-Abadi traveled to Moscow.