By Man Faulconbridge and Parisa Hafezi
LONDON/DUBAI – Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Tehran on Tuesday for a gathering with Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the primary journey by the Kremlin chief exterior the previous Soviet Union for the reason that invasion of Ukraine.
Putin casts the West’s try and cripple Russia’s economic system with probably the most extreme sanctions in latest historical past as a declaration of financial warfare and says Russia is popping away from the West to China, India and Iran.
Simply three days after U.S. 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 international 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 geared toward resuming Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports, and Erdogan’s risk to launch one other operation in northern Syria which Moscow opposes.
In Syria, Russia and Iran prevailed of their help 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 warfare started in 2011.
GO EAST?
The 69-year-old Kremlin chief has made few international journeys lately because of the COVID pandemic after which the disaster triggered by his Feb. 24 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 international journey for the reason that Ukraine warfare, 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 worth, he stated, of sovereignty.
For Tehran, constructing ties with Putin’s Russia is a approach 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 12 months.
“We'd like 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 help it may 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 reimposed sanctions in 2018.
UKRAINEANDSYRIA
Talks with Erdogan will deal with a plan to get Ukrainian grain exports transferring once more and Turkey’s risk to launch new navy operations in Syria to increase 30-km (20-mile) deep “secure 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 clear up the problems on grain exports.”
Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations are anticipated to signal a deal later this week geared 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 U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that controls massive elements of north Syria and is regarded by Washington as an necessary ally in opposition to Islamic State.
The senior Turkish official stated Turkey’s deliberate operation can be mentioned, as would experiences that Russia and the Kurds had been performing collectively in some areas of Syria.
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