According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Peshmerga signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement in Moscow on Friday. After years of negotiations, it was announced in December last year that Iran and Russia would expand their partnership in defense, including technology, through a long-term agreement. During a joint media talk after the signing of the agreement, President Peshmerga said that the comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia provides a new impetus to the bilateral relations between the two countries in various fields, from defense and energy cooperation to culture and science. Vladimir Putin said that Russia and Iran are taking an independent path on the global stage, resisting the imposition of sanctions based on external pressure and political motivations. He said that this document will pave the way for cooperation between Iran and Russia on the basis of mutual interests. It will remove obstacles in the way of customs tariffs, banking, investment guarantees, facilitation of meetings between businessmen and visa issues between the two countries. Putin said that Russia and Iran are coordinating their efforts at the international level in the Middle East and the South Caucasus. He added that the agreement will improve bilateral cooperation on issues such as combating extremism, terrorism and organized violence. He expressed hope that Iran and Russia will strengthen relations to fulfill mutual interests and open a new chapter of strategic cooperation.
Pezishkian said that Russia is an important country in the world that enjoys a privileged status in the Islamic Republic’s neighborhood policy. He said that they had positive discussions in Moscow on regional and international cooperation, including peace and stability in the West Asian region, the Caucasus and Afghanistan. The Iranian president said that given the two countries’ membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS group, the development of mutual relations will have a significant impact on strengthening regional harmony and fulfilling common interests. Pezishkian reiterated that war is not an appropriate solution to problems and said that Tehran welcomes the establishment of peace through negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. We firmly believe that Western countries should respect the security concerns of other countries and refrain from imposing demands on others. He said that he discussed with Putin the Israeli government’s military aggression against Lebanon and Syria. The two countries stressed the need to establish a permanent ceasefire in Lebanon and end Israeli aggression against Syrian territory. Pezishkian added that Iran and Russia hope that a final ceasefire will be established in Gaza so that the war in the Strip can end. It should be noted that Putin has had two meetings with Pezishkian since being sworn in as Iranian president last summer, the most recent meeting was on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan in late October. Bilateral trade increased by 15.5 percent during the first ten months of last year due to trading in local currencies.