“We are pursuing the agreements reached during Raisi’s term, and we are on the right track and are expanding our relations. Mr. Raisi played a significant role in this regard”, Putin said on Wednesday while responding to IRNA’s Managing Director, Ali Naderi.
The Russian president took questions from international journalists and media managers on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Moscow.
“We had very reliable, good and business-like relations with him. He was a very interesting person, and he was a serious politician, a reliable partner”, Putin said, referring to the late Iranian president who along with his entourage was martyred in a helicopter crash on May 19.
President Raisi “had a little bit ironic attitude toward life, and he had a sense of humor. It was interesting to maintain relations with him right away. It was interesting and useful, because I repeat once again, if we agreed on something with him, we could be confident for a long time that this topic that we are talking about will not be forgotten”, Putin continued.
He also hailed Raisi for his efforts to promote Iran’s international status as the country joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS bloc of emerging economies.
“This is still a sign that we were moving in the right direction, first and foremost in terms of the rise of a multipolar world, and Iran played and continues to play a very important role in this”, Putin added.
The Russian president stressed that his country’s relationship with Iran is developing well, despite the fact that the two countries are under sanctions.
“But, the fact remains, we have a whole plan for joint work. Our trade and economic ties are growing. Of course, in general, we would like to see additional efforts to develop cooperation in the high tech field.”
Spying allegation against Trump
Elsewhere in his remarks, Putin said that accusations against former US president Donald Trump that he had spied for Russia are ridiculous and baseless.
Those accusations are part of political disputes between Democrats and Republicans in the US.
Hailing Iran's adherence to IAEA, JCPOA frameworks
“In our opinion, Iran fully adheres to its obligations related to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and has not violated them”, Putin said while responding to the question raised by the IRNA chief about a recent anti-Iran resolution by the IAEA Board of Governors.
He continued by saying that “the United States, one the one hand, unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and it is interesting that they wanted Iran to remain stick to its commitments alone. It is ridiculous”.
The Russian president explained his country’s stance in this regard and said: “Our position has been to abide by the JCPOA and do not ask for additional commitments from each other. We urged Iran to maintain patience and adhere to the JCPOA, but I always thought myself, how can the JCPOA be taken forward?”
While talking about new ways to make sure the international deals are not nixed, Putin indirectly took a jab at the US for pulling out of the JCPOA during the Trump administration. “One government signs an agreement and the next government crumples it, arguing it is not an agreement,” he said, adding that “we see this issue in Ukraine as well. The dual policies are being pursued by the US and the West”.
The Russian president noted that Iran has adhered to all the JCPOA-related commitments and “has the legitimate right to use nuclear energy, which, the West should accept”.
Rejecting unilateralism, monopolization
The Russian president also touched on the multipolar world order during his meeting with international journalists and media personnel and “called on the United States to reassess its view in this regard”.
“The world is formed based on the cooperation as we are witnessing between Russia, China, Iran and other countries. Iran is a powerful country and no one is supposed to be a slave or under the western flag. Iran and Russia are two emerging countries in the economic field, and this is what worries European leaders,” Putin said when asked by the IRNA chief that how does he see the future of the world and will it be unipolar against the will of the independent nations?.
He said: “Small European countries don't understand that many good things are happening on the other side of the world, India and China are influential countries based on their population and other development indicators. Other Asian countries, such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, etc., also potentially have a lot of power in the economic field, and their population is also growing”.
“These countries contain a large part of the world and a large amount of food and energy resources, therefore, economic cooperation with powerful countries like Iran should be made”, Putin added.
He further said: “The era of monopolization of the global economy is over and one should now think of diversity in regional economic policies, which is, a bit natural”.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Putin rejected the military adventurism being pursued by some powers. “Militarizing the region and the world is not a good thing” he said, adding that “Americans think they can control the world by selling weapons.”
The Russian leader also stressed that a general review is necessary by those who “continue to support a group of imperialist countries”, which he said is “not pleasant”.
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