Russian President Vladimir Putin may meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani during an upcoming gas exporting forum in Tehran, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on Friday.
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The bilateral talks are planned to be held with the leaders of the participating countries, the statement said.
Tehran has recently strengthened ties with Moscow, which is considering providing two loans worth a total of $7 billion to Iran.
Putin will no doubt go to Iran’s capital Tehran for the third summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) scheduled for November 23, and “a meeting with the summit host is possible”, Ushakov was quoted by Xinhua as saying. Both countries are supporting embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad in the talks, which also include the USA and Saudi Arabia. The Iranian and Russian presidents agreed to continue dialog during Putin’s visit to Tehran for the GECF meeting.
He, however, added that the schedule of President Putin’s meetings has not been finalized yet. “We are one on this with my Turkish colleague Recep Tayyip Erdogan”, Putin said.
Moscow’s relations with Washington slumped to a post-Cold War nadir over Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 and its subsequent support of an insurgency in the country’s east.
The United States and its allies have accused Russian Federation of using its bombing campaign in Syria to target Western-backed moderate opposition groups to Assad.
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Putin is also expected to meet Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi worldwide Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde on the margins of the G20.
