Russian President Vladimir Putin reached Iran on Tuesday where he met with Turkish and Iranian leaders in the capital city and held trilateral talks with them.
This is Putin’s first foreign trip beyond the boundaries of the former Soviet Union since launching the Ukraine War.
During the trilateral talks, the leaders of Türkiye, Russia and Iran condemned the increased presence and activities of terrorist groups and their affiliates in various parts of Syria, rejecting in their trilateral statement “all attempts to create new realities on the ground.”
Putin meets Erdogan
In Tehran, the first face-to-face foreign meeting of Putin took place with the NATO leader President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. The two leaders discussed a deal that would resume Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports as well as the conflict in northern Syria.
Turkey and Russia have agreed to create a “demilitarized zone” around Syria’s rebel-held province of Idlib.
“We have decided to create a demilitarized zone some 15 to 20 kilometers deep along the line of contact between the armed opposition and regime troops by October 15 of this year,” Putin said.
Talks with Iranian President
Putin also met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
A clip of the Russian President’s meeting with President Raisi showed them applauding improvements in bilateral relations and cooperation across the region.
“In terms of international security, we will increase our cooperation,” Putin said, adding that the two countries play a major role in ensuring Syria’s security.
In response, the Iranian president told Putin that cooperation between the two states has created stability and security in the region.
“Countries that made claims about fighting terrorism in West Asia didn’t take any meaningful steps in this regard, but it was the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia that showed their honest and serious will through serious cooperation on fighting terrorism,” Raisi said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader meets Putin
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his address to media, after meeting with Putin, said Tehran and Moscow should strengthen their ties, further adding that the West was to blame for the war in Ukraine.
He said the West is opposed to a strong and independent Russia, adding: “NATO would know no bounds if the way was open to it, and if it was not stopped in Ukraine, it would start the same war using Crimea as an excuse.”
“If you did not take the initiative, the other side would have caused the war with its own initiative,” Mr Khamenei told Mr Putin.
Russian President’s trip to Iran comes just days after US President Joe Biden finished his trip of the region during which he visited Israel, the occupied West Bank, and Saudi Arabia, where he had talks with regional Arab leaders.