© Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to spend Tuesday working in Tehran, holding bilateral talks and attending a summit on Syrian settlement.

Meetings with Iranian leaders

Putin is scheduled to arrive at the Iranian capital in the middle of the day and will start off the visit by meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, according to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov. It will be followed by a conversation with Ali Khamenei, Iran’s spiritual leader and the supreme leader. The Kremlin aide called Iran an important partner of Russia because relations between the countries are friendly, have a long history, and are developing very effectively in a wide range of areas. Moscow and Tehran have plans to take bilateral cooperation to a new level - a strategic partnership - so a new bilateral agreement is being prepared, Ushakov said.

The issue of amping up Russian-Iranian economic cooperation is especially important in light of the tightening of Western sanctions on Russia and the prospect of signing a permanent agreement between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union on a free trade zone in 2022, which should replace the temporary agreement, TASS reports.

The nuclear deal talks remain an important issue, where both Russia and the Islamic Republic are in favor of restoring the agreement in its original form. When the Russian leader meets with the leaders of Iran, they are expected to exchange views on key aspects of bilateral cooperation, and international and regional security, including the current situation around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program.

Putin-Erdogan talks

Putin will continue the bilateral meetings by holding talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to Ushakov, the presidents are going to "discuss key issues of Russian-Turkish cooperation, the implementation of flagship projects in the trade and economic area, as well as give an in-depth consideration to some international issues, including the situation around Ukraine and the export of Ukrainian grain." In the first half of the day on July 19, representatives of the Russian Federation and Turkey will hold special consultations on economic issues in Tehran, including on payments in national currencies.

Erdogan plans to focus at the meeting with the head of the Russian state on a comprehensive discussion of bilateral relations, the prospects for resolving the Ukrainian crisis, and the creation of a coordinating center in Istanbul to control the supply of agricultural products across the Black Sea. The issue of creating a grain corridor was discussed on July 13 in Istanbul by the military delegations of Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and UN representatives. The sides could sign a final document on the creation of the center and the start of grain exports at their next meeting that may take place this week, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Monday.

The talks also could touch upon a possible visit to Turkey by the Russian president, who was invited by Erdogan in January to visit Ankara. Earlier it was reported that there are no exact dates for the visit to Turkey yet.

The two leaders will also review the situation around Syria in light of Turkey's plans to launch a new military operation in the north of the neighboring country against the militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and its Syrian offshoot, the People's Self-Defense Forces. It is also planned to discuss issues of normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia, the situation in the Caucasus region, and other regional and international issues.

Ushakov confirmed that Turkey's plans to conduct a new operation against Kurdish formations in northern Syria would be discussed by the presidents. "The Russian principled position is that we oppose any actions that violate the basic principle of the Syrian settlement, which is enshrined in the relevant resolutions of the [UN] Security Council and in the decisions of the Astana format, which is respect for the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Syria," he said.

Syrian settlement

In the second half of the day Tehran will host a meeting of the heads of the states that are guarantors of the Astana process of assistance to the Syrian settlement. Negotiations between the presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey were planned to be held in the Islamic Republic in 2020 but the event has been postponed many times due to the pandemic.

"The Astana format has proved and continues to prove its effectiveness, it’s perhaps the only international instrument that is capable of producing a positive real impact on the situation in Syria," the Kremlin aide said.

Ushakov said that the presidents of the three countries "will discuss a set of joint measures in order to achieve an ultimate and long-term settlement in Syria." He said that "special attention will be paid to the issues of normalizing the situation in the territories not controlled by the Syrian government. The Kremlin aide paid special attention to the fact that the US continues to destabilize the situation in the Trans-Euphrates region, encouraging separatism and supplying weapons to Kurdish quasi-state organizations.

The official named humanitarian issues related to Syria among the issues to be discussed at the summit. "The social and economic situation in Syria is extremely difficult, and illegal unilateral Western sanctions against Damascus had a serious negative impact," the Kremlin aide stated.

"The US and its allies continue to politicize the issue of providing humanitarian assistance to Syria, they have not fulfilled their obligations over the past year to support projects for the early restoration of basic socio-economic infrastructure in Syria, as well as the easing of sanctions," he said.

Ushakov said that Russia on July 12 supported UN Security Council resolution No. 2642 on the extension of the cross-border mechanism for six months in order to give the sides another chance to fulfill their obligations. "We oppose any further extensions in this regard, and next time our position will be expressed more categorically," the aide said. Moscow, he said, considers the cross-border mechanism a temporary and emergency measure that should be ended because it violates international humanitarian law and Syrian sovereignty.

Ushakov said that the presidents of the three countries would make press statements following the summit. They also plan to adopt a joint statement.