Putin Praises Record-High Trade Turnover With Iran at Meeting With Raisi

The Russian leader arrived in Tehran earlier in the day in order to take part in a high-level meeting with his counterparts from Turkey and Iran. Apart from the trilateral talks, Vladimir Putin planned bilateral negotiations with Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ebrahim Raisi.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has heaped praised on a record-high trade turnover with Iran during his bilateral meeting with President Ebrahim Raisi on 19 July. The Russian leader stressed that the bilateral relations are developing at a good pace:

Putin has emphasized that Russia and Iran are strengthening cooperation on international security and making a significant contribution to the settlement of the Syrian crisis.

President Raisi, for his part, voiced hopes that Putin's visit to Tehran would become a "turning point" in the Russian-Iranian ties.

"I hope that your visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran will be a turning point in terms of the development of relations between the two countries, as well as regional and international cooperation," Raisi said during the meeting.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has made it clear that cooperation with Iran is not "sporadic," rather it is Russia's "long-term foreign policy trend."

"We have been seeking trade and economic relations with Iran for a long time, and they already have acquired an established, solid foundation," he told Russian broadcaster Channel One during Putin's visit to Iran.

Meanwhile, as President Putin was on his way to the Iranian capital, the Tehran exchange launched Iranian rial/Russian ruble trading.

"The launching of trading in the ruble/Iranian rial currency pair is an important step in the development of economic relations between Iran and Russia," Ali Saleh Abadi, governor of Iran's Central Bank, announced.

On Monday, Peskov said that Russia would gradually abandon the US dollar in its trade with the Islamic Republic.

"And we all know that trade and economic relations between the two countries slightly exceeded four billion US dollars last year, although it may be wrong to count them in US dollars, and over time, we will probably move away from this practice as we develop our cooperation in the banking financial sector," Peskov said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during his trip to Tehran in June that trade between Russia and Iran had grown by a record 80% in 2021 to exceed $4 billion. The trend continued this year, and Russia will do its utmost to keep it going, the diplomat said.

What Else is on Agenda?

Putin and Raisi are also set to hold talks with their Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdofan, as part of the Astana peace process, which is aimed at ending the Syrian conflict. Erdogan said earlier in the day that they would "evaluate" the Astana process and discuss new opportunities.

The Kremlin previously confirmed that the troika would discuss Ankara's plans to launch a new operation in Syria to target Kurdish militia, which it views as terrorists.

"Our position in Russia is that we oppose any actions that violate the basic principle of the Syrian settlement, which is enshrined in the relevant Security Council resolutions and in the decisions of the Astana format. This is respect for the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Syria," Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said on Monday.

The three leaders are set to raise the issue of normalization of the situation in the Syrian areas that are not controlled by the Bashar al-Assad government.

"We believe that special attention will be paid to the issues of normalizing the situation in the territories not controlled by the Syrian government — the regions of Idlib and the Euphrates area," Ushakov said, stressing that the US' activity in Syria’s Euphrates area remains a destabilizing factor, since Washington continues to actively encourage secessionism.