The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, is likely to visit Iran next week, the Kremlin said Tuesday, a day after the United States warned that Tehran could provide Moscow with other drones for its action in Ukraine.
While on a trip to Tehran next Tuesday, Putin will take part in a trilateral meeting with the leaders of Iran as well as Turkey, the so-called Astana format of meetings for Syria-related talks, the spokesman of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, said.
Putin’s visit to Iran will follow the President of the United States, Joe Biden’s trip to Israel & Saudi Arabia this week, where Iran’s nuclear program & malign activities in the region will be a key subject of discussion.
Peskov, during an address, said that on the visit to Tehran, Putin would also have a separate meeting with Turkish President Recap Tayyip Erdogan.
In March, Erdogan helped in mediating talks between Russian & Ukrainian representatives in Istanbul, Turkey. Peskov added there was no discussion about a new round of such talks.
Whereas on Monday, the White House said that it believes that Russia is turning to Iran to provide it with “hundreds” of drones, including those capable of carrying weapons, for use in Ukraine.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan added it was unclear whether Iran had already provided any of the vehicles to Russia, but mentioned the U.S. has “information” that shows Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use them as soon as this month.
Sullivan further mentioned while referring to drones by the acronym for unmanned aerial vehicles that, “Our information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline.”