Iranian president gives ‘his full support’ to Putin in telephone call, Kremlin says
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi gave “his full support” to Vladimir Putin during a telephone call, the Kremlin announced in a statement on Monday, two days after an aborted mutiny in Russia.
“The Iranian president has expressed his full support for the Russian leadership in connection with the June 24 events,” the Kremlin said in an announcement.
After a phone call between Putin and Raisi, the Iranian president’s political deputy, Mohammed Jamshidi, quoted the Iranian president in a tweet, saying “Iran supports Russian sovereignty.”
According to the Iranian official, “President Putin explained the events related to the failed mutiny and insisted that such incidents cannot affect Russian sovereignty.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanani, reiterated on Monday that Iran “does not support any side in the war in Ukraine,” while the US accuses Tehran of supplying drones to Moscow and of helping to build a factory to manufacture them, which Tehran denies.
Putin also received in the morning “support” from Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, according to another press release from the Russian presidency.
The Kremlin said Putin addressed a forum of youth engineers in a pre-recorded video message that contained no mention of the mutiny.
The Kremlin was straining to appear unflustered and to demonstrate that Putin’s rule is stable and that the campaign in Ukraine would continue.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, a main target of revolt, appeared in more pre-recorded footage on state television, apparently visiting troops in Ukraine, but it was not clear when the piece was filmed.
Officials in Moscow and in the Voronezh region south of the capital lifted “anti-terrorist” emergency security measures imposed to protect the capital from rebel assault.
On Monday, Wagner’s main headquarters in St. Petersburg said: “Despite events that have taken place, the center continues to work in normal mode in accordance to the law of the Russian Federation.”
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed that Wagner’s contracts remain secure in Africa, where the outfit ostensibly provides security advisers for local leaders, but stands accused of human rights abuses while seeking to corner sources of mineral wealth.
In Mali and the Central African Republic, Wagner operators “are working there as instructors. This work, of course, will continue,” Lavrov said in an interview with RT, adding that the revolt would not affect Russia’s ties with “partners and friends.”