Putin visits Iran for first trip outside former USSR since Ukraine war – Middle East Monitor

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, visits Tehran on Tuesday for a gathering with Supreme Chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the primary journey by the Kremlin Chief outdoors the previous Soviet Union for the reason that invasion of Ukraine, Reuters stories.

Putin casts the West’s try to cripple Russia’s financial system with probably the most extreme sanctions in latest historical past as a declaration of financial battle and says Russia is popping away from the West to China, India and Iran.

Simply three days after US President Joe Biden completed a go to to Saudi Arabia, Russia’s paramount chief arrives in Tehran to carry his fifth assembly with Khamenei, Iran’s second Supreme Chief who got here to energy in 1989.

“The contact with Khamenei is essential,” Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s Overseas Coverage Adviser, advised reporters in Moscow. “A trusting dialogue has developed between them on crucial points on the bilateral and worldwide agenda.”

“On most points, our positions are shut or equivalent.”

Putin’s go to to Iran will coincide with one by Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan, and the 2 leaders will meet in Tehran to debate a deal aimed toward resuming Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports, and Erdogan’s menace to launch one other operation in northern Syria which Moscow opposes.

In Syria, Russia and Iran prevailed of their assist for President Bashar Al-Assad in opposition to the West, which referred to as repeatedly for him to be toppled for the reason that Syrian civil battle started in 2011.

Go East?

The 69-year-old Kremlin Chief has made few overseas journeys lately as a result of COVID pandemic, after which the disaster triggered by his 24 February invasion of Ukraine. His final journey past the previous Soviet Union was to China in February.

By heading to the Islamic Republic for his first main overseas journey for the reason that Ukraine battle, Putin is sending a transparent message to the West that Russia will search to construct ties with Iran, a foe of the US for the reason that 1979 Revolution.

Earlier than the journey, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, stated that Russia and Iran had lengthy been topic to Western sanctions: the value, he stated, of sovereignty.

For Tehran, constructing ties with Putin’s Russia is a method to stability the clout of the US and its alliances throughout the Gulf with Arab rulers and Israel. Putin will meet with Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, who was elected final yr.

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“We want a powerful ally, and Moscow is a superpower,” stated a senior Iranian official, who requested to not be recognized.

Emboldened by excessive oil costs, Tehran is betting that, with Russia’s assist, it might strain Washington to supply concessions for the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal.

Nonetheless, Russia’s tilt in direction of Beijing has considerably diminished Iran’s crude exports to China – a key supply of earnings for Tehran since President Donald Trump re-imposed sanctions in 2018.

Ukraine and Syria

Talks with Erdogan will deal with a plan to get Ukrainian grain exports shifting once more and Turkiye’s menace to launch new army operations in Syria to increase 30-km (20-mile) deep “protected zones” alongside the border.

“Discussions with Putin will deal with grains, Syria and Ukraine,” stated a senior Turkish official who requested anonymity. “The talks will attempt to remedy the problems on grain exports.”

Russia, Ukraine, Turkiye and the United Nations are anticipated to signal a deal later this week aimed toward resuming the transport of grain from Ukraine throughout the Black Sea.

Any Turkish operation in Syria would assault the Kurdish YPG militia, a key a part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that controls massive elements of north Syria and is regarded by Washington as an necessary ally in opposition to Daesh.

The senior Turkish official stated Turkiye”s deliberate operation could be mentioned, as would stories that Russia and the Kurds had been performing collectively in some areas of Syria.