Russia’s cooperation with Asia-Pacific Region becoming stronger : Putin

Dhaka August 30 2022 :

Inside Russia : Outside Russia : News Digest by the Embassy of Russian Federation in Bangladesh on August 30 2022

INSIDE RUSSIA

Russia’s cooperation with Asia-Pacific Region becoming stronger — Putin

MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed satisfaction with development of bilateral ties between Russia and countries of the Asia-Pacific Region and cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Agreement, BRICS, APEC and ASEAN.

“We are glad to note that direct bilateral cooperation with Asia-Pacific nations as well as their cooperation within the framework of such influential associations as the Eurasian Economic Community, the SCO, BRICS, APEC, and ASEAN is growing stronger and gaining momentum. Russia is ready to continue, along with all interested partners, to make efforts to improve regional cooperation in various formats,” the head of state said in the message of greetings to participants, organizers, and guests of the 7th Eastern Economic Forum.

“Russian and foreign politicians and businessmen, experts and public figures will discuss a wide range of issues related to the prospects for intensifying trade, investment, scientific, and humanitarian cooperation. It is important that commercial contracts and long-term agreements are expected to be signed during the Forum with the participation of business circles and the regional authorities,” the President noted.

The 7th Eastern Economic Forum will be held in Vladivostok on September 5-8.

Kremlin defines Arctic as sphere of its critical interests

MOSCOW. Aug 29 (Interfax) – Moscow feels negatively about the remarks by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg regarding the threat coming from Russia and China in the Arctic region, and will continue to develop this strategic area, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Journalists asked Peskov to comment on Stoltenberg’s words that the intensified activity of Russia and China in the Arctic region posed a threat to the North Atlantic Alliance. “We feel negatively [about Stoltenberg’s remark]. The Arctic is a zone of our economic operations, a zone of the provision of our security and, therefore a sphere of our critical interests,” Peskov said at a press briefing on Monday.

“The interaction with other countries, especially China, has the sole purpose of further development of this Arctic zone and cannot pose a threat to any other country or union,” he said.

Such statements demonstrate the ongoing Western policy of opposition to Russia and its interests in the Arctic, Peskov said.

“Russia will be ensuring its interests in a solid, necessary manner,” he said.

West’s actions may slow down forming of multipolarity but will not stop it — Lavrov

MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/. The West is seeking to disregard objective historic processes, which may slow down the forming of a multipolar world but will never stop it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Zvezda television channel, which was posted on the foreign ministry’s website on Sunday.

“Regrettably, our Western partners, who have ceded the reins of power to the United States, <…> are seeking to disregard objective historic processes, which may slow down the formation of a multipolar world but will never be able to stop it,” he said.

He was asked how many multipolarity belts he thinks have already been formed. “It is not an agreed procedure, which is to be implemented. It is not a fire-year plan or a three-year budget, like the one we have. It is not like yearly budgets passed in other countries. It is living process. This is about politicians’ talents. They must see what is going on in real life and build their policy in line with the demands of history,” he said.

“Let us look at an example from British life, for a change. They have a saying that before laying a garden path, it is necessary to let people make desire paths. In simple words, this is how it is necessary to act on the international arena: i.e. to build one’s proactive policy so that it doesn’t run counter to objective tendencies, including the tendency to multipolarity. This is how we are acting,” Lavrov stressed.

Second suspect identified in Dugina assassination

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has identified a Ukrainian man, named Bogdan Tsiganenko, as an accomplice in the plot to murder Russian journalist and political activist Darya Dugina.

The daughter of the well-known philosopher and ‘Eurasia’ advocate Aleksandr Dugin, was killed in a Moscow car bombing earlier this month.

Tsiganenko allegedly helped the primary suspect, Natalya Vovk, obtain a fake Kazakhstani passport and assemble an improvised explosive device, which she later used in the crime, according to the statement.

The suspected 42-year-old bombmaker entered Russia from Estonia in late June and left a day before the bomb attack on August 20, the FSB said on Monday. The IED was made at a rented garage, the agency added. The FSB believes that the two acted together as members of a “Ukrainian sabotage-terrorist group.”

The agency released images and footage said to show Tsiganenko traveling with Vovk in her car, receiving falsified car plates for the vehicle, and entering and leaving Russia.

The statement also provided new details about the assassination itself. The FSB released footage showing Vovk surveilling Dugina at a parking lot of the family festival where she presumably planted the bomb. The Ukrainian woman followed her target in her car and set off the explosion, which killed Dugina on the spot, according to the FSB.

Dugina was a vocal critic of the government in Kiev and a supporter of Russia’s military action in Ukraine. She was also the daughter of controversial philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, who Western media has long described as a secret influencer of Russian foreign policy.

After Vovk was identified as the primary suspect in the case, Russia accused Ukraine of masterminding the assassination. Kiev has denied any involvement.

Vovk managed to leave Russia after killing Dugina, crossing into Estonia, according to the FSB.

Russia to launch yuan bond sales – media

Russia is planning to resume local bond sales after a six-month pause, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. The Kremlin also reportedly wants Chinese yuan-denominated debt to help the recovery of the Russian market.

The report highlighted that ruble bonds, also referred to as OFZs, could potentially be back on the market in the second half of September. Meanwhile, the debut of yuan bonds on the Russian market won’t happen until next year, it said.

“A long-mulled plan to debut Chinese currency notes locally is being dusted off with fresh urgency as yuan trading volumes surge after sanctions shut Russia out of its traditional markets in the US and Europe,” an unnamed source told the outlet.

According to Bloomberg data, trading volumes between the Russian ruble and the Chinese currency have grown 40-fold since the start of the year.

“With hundreds of millions of dollars coming into government coffers from energy revenue each day, the government has no need to borrow now, and sales of yuan debt would serve solely as a benchmark for companies looking to tap the market,” the source was quoted as saying.

Russia’s biggest gold miner, Polyus and aluminum giant Rusal International have reportedly already started transacting in the yuan.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT’s business section

OUTSIDE RUSSIA

IAEA mission to Zaporozhye NPP to be held despite Kiev’s destructive course — diplomat

MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/. Moscow hopes that the visit to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant by IAEA inspectors will finally take place, despite Kiev;s destructive influence, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.

“We are convinced that it (an IAEA inspection – TASS) is to take place, despite the destructive influence on this process by the Kiev regime and all those who are backing it and those who are using the nuclear facility as a mere instrument of not even blackmailing but terrorism,” she said in an interview with the Voskresny Vecher (Sunday Evening) with Vladimir Solovyov program on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

“Because what the Kiev regime is doing around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is nuclear terrorism. Obviously, it can be done not only by those who possess nuclear weapons or dirty bombs, but also the way we see now,” she stressed.

She called for not believing the West’s fakes that Russia has allegedly been pressed for giving access to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant for IAEA inspectors. “I want to all on everyone to ignore reports and fake coming from the West that they have allegedly managed to press <…> the Russian side to agree to the inspection, that they have allegedly used all their diplomatic skills to persuade us to organize such an inspection,” she said. “It is not true. It is a lie. We have already seen attempts at presenting the situation this way, so I just want to warn that the information campaign will be unfolding this very way.”

Zakharova stressed that it was Moscow who was insisting on such an inspection. “It has been calling for such an inspection, requesting it. Moreover, it has received full understanding from the IAEA, from its director general and for months has been sparing no effort to organize this visit. I remember how Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with the IAEA director general several months ago. I remember numerous contacts, telephone calls and personal meetings held by our representatives to this organization. Diplomatic efforts were focused on organizing the inspection,” she said.

The New York Times reported on Saturday that the IAEA has formed a mission, which is expected to visit the Zaporozhye NPP next week.

Located in the city of Energodar, the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is controlled by Russian troops. In recent days, Ukrainian forces delivered several strikes at its territory using unmanned aerial vehicles, heavy artillery and multiple rocket launch systems. It most cases, such attacks were repelled by air defense systems but several shells hit infrastructure facilities and the vicinity of the nuclear waste storage.

Timeline for UN mission to Zaporozhye nuclear plant revealed

An IAEA team has been formed and will arrive later this week, the head of the watchdog has said

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has formed a delegation that will visit Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine as early as this week, the watchdog’s chief, Rafael Grossi, announced on Monday. The plant has been under Russian control since March and has been repeatedly shelled by Ukrainian forces.

“The day has come, IAEA’s Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporozhye (ISAMZ) is now on its way. We must protect the safety and security of Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that he is “proud to lead this mission,” which is set to arrive at the site later this week.

Earlier, Grossi said the goal of the mission is to see what exactly is happening at the plant, assess its integrity, speak to both Russian and Ukrainian staff, and establish a permanent presence on the ground.

On Saturday, the New York Times reported that the IAEA delegation consists of independent experts from “mostly neutral countries,” and neither the US nor the UK have any representatives on the team due to their strong support for Kiev.

On Sunday night, Ukrainian forces shelled Energodar, the city where the plant is located, the local authorities said. According to Evgeny Balitsky, the head of the pro-Russian military-civilian administration, three residential houses were deliberately hit by artillery fire, injuring nine people, with two sustaining heavy wounds.

The city authorities also claimed that the attack was meant to torpedo the IAEA mission. “This provocation by Kiev-controlled militants is aimed at derailing the visit of the IAEA chief to the Zaporozhye NPP,” they said.

Moscow has repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of attacking the nuclear plant and Energodar, while warning that the shelling could trigger a disaster that would eclipse the 1986 Chernobyl incident. Kiev insists that Russian forces are shelling the site while stationing military hardware there.

Several IAEA people to remain at Zaporizhzhia NPP permanently — Readovka.world

Sergey Storozhev

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission is on its way to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

Russia’s Governor to the IAEA Mikhail Ulyanov said that an IAEA mission was on its way to the Zaporizhzhia NPP. He IAEA experts finally go to Zaporizhzhia NPPShelling from Kyiv did not help to disrupt the mission to the nuclear power station added that Rafael Grossi, the agency’s director general, intends to keep several people at the Zaporizhzhia NPP on a permanent basis.

As originally announced, the specialists and experts plan to verify the safety and operability of the plant. According to the New York Times, the commission consists of 14 people including representatives from China, Serbia, Poland, Lithuania, Albania, France, Italy, Jordan, Mexico and Northern Macedonia. They also have the head of the IAEA on board.

As Readovka reported earlier, Kyiv may be disadvantaged from the commission’s visit, and Ukraine has tried to halt the IAEA visit with its regular shelling of nuclear power plants. Last week, however, French President Emmanuel Macron said that France had received security guarantees for the mission from Russia and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the residents of the Zaporizhzhia region are asking the organization to influence Kyiv into stopping the shelling of the nuclear power plant and endangering the safety of millions of people’s lives.

Pentagon admits ‘likelihood’ of Ukrainian shelling near nuclear plant

A senior US military official admitted on Monday that Ukrainian forces may have struck the area around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, but insisted that this was only in response to Russian fire allegedly coming from the area. Earlier in the day, Russian authorities said a Ukrainian artillery shell damaged the roof of the building storing reactor fuel.

“What I know for sure is that the Russians are firing from around the plant,” the unnamed official told reporters during a background briefing at the Pentagon. “I also know that there are rounds that have impacted near the plant.”

The official said it was “hard to explain, I guess” how the US was monitoring the situation around the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest.

“And I don’t want to say that the Ukrainians haven’t fired in that vicinity either because I think there’s probably a likelihood that they have, but in good – in a number of cases, it’s returning fire of the Russians who are firing from those locations,” he said.

Russian forces established control of the Zaporozhye NPP in early March. National guard and nuclear protection specialists have secured the site while the Ukrainian staff continued to operate without hindrance. The government in Kiev claims that Russian forces had turned the plant into a military base from which they were attacking Ukrainian targets, but also that Russian troops were shelling themselves in a false-flag ploy to make Ukraine look bad.

The US official claimed “the Ukrainians are very aware of the potential impacts of striking the nuclear power plant and they’re going out of their way not to do that.”

Moscow has provided evidence to the UN of repeated Ukrainian attacks on the Zaporozhye NPP and the nearby town of Energodar since July, using kamikaze drones and even US-supplied artillery. The latest attack came on Monday, when a round breached the roof of a building where fresh reactor fuel was being stored, a member of the local administration said.

On Sunday, a drone was shot down over the plant, while Ukrainian artillery strikes on Energodar injured nine civilian residents.

Kiev has demanded that Russia hand the Zaporozhye NPP back to Ukrainian control, or at least demilitarize a 30-kilometer area around it. On Monday, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also urged a demilitarization, additionally urging a shutdown of the reactors. The US has previously echoed Kiev’s accusations that Moscow wanted to “steal Ukraine’s electricity” by shutting down the plant or disconnecting it from the Ukrainian grid.

According to Russian nuclear experts, the biggest danger is not a reactor meltdown but the Ukrainian artillery striking the open-air spent fuel storage, which would result in a radioactive release.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi is personally leading the mission that is supposed to visit the plant this week.

SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION IN UKRAINE

With no success, Ukrainian forces trying to launch counterattack — Readovka.world

The advancement of the Ukrainian Army is insignificant and has a local character.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue their attempts to launch a counterattack in the southern direction, but their advance is insignificant and local in nature. It is out of the question that the enemy has made any progress.

In the morning of August 29, the Ukrainian Telegram community began dispelling information about the “long-awaited counterattack on Kherson”, which had been talked about since early summer. Staged videos and statements by officials, including those from regions not adjacent to Kherson, were also used.

As Readovka found out from sources on the ground, the Ukrainian military are indeed once again attempting a counterattack in certain areas on the right bank of the Dnipro. However, there is nothing supernatural or new in this since these attempts, which ended in nothing, continued all summer.

It became known about the enemy’s movement along the Velyka Kostromka-Dudchany line. The goal appears to be to advance to Beryslav and reach the Dnipro River in order to advance along its line towards Nova Kakhovka and Kherson. It should be noted that the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ grouping here has been numerically increased, and the Ukrainian military is suffering heavy losses.

Nevertheless, the enemy’s successes are localized and small in scale in this area. Our troops holding these lines are actively countering them by engaging in firing bags and counterattacks, bringing in artillery and aviation. The situation is under control, regular frontline work is being carried out, we were assured from the field. Thus, the Ukrainian military can “counterattack” indefinitely, without achieving any significant result.

Ukraine’s counter-offensive attempt has failed – Russia

Kiev’s troops suffered great losses in a failed attack ordered by president Zelensky towards Kherson, Moscow says

Ukraine’s much-heralded “counter-offensive” in Kherson has “failed miserably,” the Russian Defense Ministry insisted on Monday, listing estimated losses suffered by Kiev during the operation.

Ukrainian forces had attempted to attack in three directions on orders of President Vladimir Zelensky but made no gains, Moscow explained.

Russian troops caused “great losses” to the Ukrainian attackers during the day’s battles, a statement read. Kiev saw 26 tanks, 23 armored fighting vehicles, nine more armored vehicles, and two SU-25 ground-attack jets destroyed, while more than 560 troops were lost, according to the summary.

Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian outlet Suspilne quoted Southern Command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk as saying that “offensive actions in various directions” had begun, “including in the Kherson region.” She offered no details, however, saying only that “any military operation needs silence.”

By Monday evening, however, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine mentioned only a Russian attack near the village of Potemkino.

Kiev has been talking about a “Kherson counteroffensive” all summer, while soliciting more weapons and ammunition from its Western backers. In a video address to the people on Sunday, Zelensky vowed that “Ukraine will return” to Donbass – as well as Kharkov, Zaporozhye, Kherson and “definitely to Crimea.”

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”

In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.

Russia practically eliminates remnants of Ukraine’s Air Force — source

MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. The staff of Ukraine’s Air Force have been practically eliminated by Russia’s Aerospace Forces and air defense systems, a military-diplomatic source told TASS on Monday.

“The entire qualified operating personnel of Ukraine’s former air force – of Mig-29, Su-27 and Su-25 aircraft – have been practically eliminated by the effective actions of the Russian Aerospace Forces and the air defense systems,” the source said.

According to it, the West’s promises to deliver more Soviet-made combat planes will most likely remain unfulfilled. The source specified that Ukraine was forced to involve poorly trained air cadets for combat sorties which led to “catastrophic losses among the remnants of the Ukrainian aviation.”

The source said that attempts to recruit more pilots in Poland and other Eastern European countries were not particularly successful. “The few who agreed are already in grave or in hospitals,” he explained.

Pentagon Recruiting & Training Ex-Afghan Pilots to ‘Plug Holes’ in Ukraine’s Air Force, Source Says

By Svetlana Ekimenko, Sputnik News

Attempts to recruit more pilots for replenishing Ukraine’s Air Force reportedly come after it was practically decimated by Russia’s Aerospace Forces and air defense systems, according to a military-diplomatic source cited by reporters.

The US Department of Defense plans to recruit former Afghan pilots who fled amid the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan to undergo training for the Ukrainian Air Force, a military-diplomatic source told Sputnik.

“As we know, the Pentagon began recruiting former Afghan pilots who ran to the US together with the Americans a year ago. Their training now kicks off in California with plans to subsequently dispatch them to Ukraine via Poland,” the source said.

The training will involve not only former pilots but also Afghans who served in special forces units. They are all being offered to undergo training and sign a contract “which presupposes their subsequent deployment to the combat zone in Ukraine,” the source added.

However, the military-diplomatic source underscored that these measures will fail to affect the overall outcome of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, launched on February 24.

“All these hysterical attempts ‘to plug holes’ will only postpone the Kiev regime’s military catastrophe and the political one of its ‘sponsors’ in Washington… They won’t impact the end result,” the source emphasized.

Catastrophic Losses’

Earlier, Russian media outlets cited a military-diplomatic source as saying that the entire qualified operating personnel of Ukraine’s former air force has been demolished by effective actions of Russia’s Aerospace Forces and air defense systems.

Ukraine was forced to involve poorly trained air cadets for combat sorties, resulting in “catastrophic losses” among the remnants of the Ukrainian aviation, including Mig-29, Su-27 and Su-25 aircraft, added the insider. Furthermore, efforts to reportedly recruit more pilots in Poland and other Eastern European countries failed to succeed, it was added.

Back in April Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said training of Ukrainian forces was taking place in several locations in Europe. Kirby specified in that the US had commenced training with the Ukrainian armed forces on key systems at US military installations in Germany, helping them learn advanced weapons systems, such as howitzers, radar systems and armored vehicles.

At the time, Kirby noted that the Florida National Guard had been tasked with the “bulk” of the training.

The UK, which remains the second-largest supplier of weaponry to the Kiev regime after the US, has played a highly active role in training Ukrainian forces. Furthermore, Canada and Sweden have sent their groups of military instructors in line with a program unveiled by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in June with the potential to train up to 10,000 soldiers every 120 days.

This comes as European Union defense and foreign ministers, meeting in Prague this week, will also discuss options for setting up an EU military training mission for Ukrainian forces, mainly enabling them to operate weapons Western nations are funneling into Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly warned that such actions only serve to fan the flames of the Ukraine conflict and prolong it. The Kremlin also accused NATO of trying to create a state hostile to Russia in Ukraine, with the eventual goal to deploy its troops on Ukrainian territory.

Kiev shelling damages roof of nuclear reactor fuel storage – official

The roof of the building was damaged in the attack, Zaporozhye Region’s administration says

A Ukrainian strike has hit a reactor fuel storage at the Russian-controlled Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, local authorities said on Monday.

The roof of the building has been damaged as a result of the attack, Vladimir Rogov, the spokesman for Zaporozhye Region’s administration, said on Telegram.

He also posted a photo of a hole in the roof that was supposedly caused by the strike.

The affected storage facility holds fresh nuclear fuel for the reactors of the plant, which is the largest in Europe.

Russia said earlier that a Ukrainian drone targeting the nuclear facility had been shot down.

Moscow has repeatedly accused Kiev’s forces of targeting the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant – which has been under Russian control since March, but operated by Ukrainian staff – with artillery and ‘kamikaze’ drones.

It warned that those attacks could trigger a disaster that would eclipse the 1986 Chernobyl incident. Radioactive material could potentially reach Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, Belarus, and even Germany in a worst-case scenario.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has claimed that the Russian forces have turned the nuclear plant into a military base and that they’ve been shelling the facility themselves to pin the blame on Kiev.

Russia has repeatedly denied those accusation and urged for international inspectors to visit the site to assess the situation for themselves.

Earlier on Monday, International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi announced that such a mission will take pace after all, with IAEA specialists expected to arrive at the Zaporozhye plant this week.

Civilians evacuated to shelters as Ukraine attacks Russian-held town

Dozens of rockets fell on Novaya Kakhovka over the past 24 hours, the local administration has said

The Russian-controlled city of Novaya Kakhovka in Ukraine’s Kherson Region is evacuating civilians due to constant artillery attacks by Kiev’s forces, the local administration reported on Monday.

“Over 24 hours, there were some ten rocket salvos, each including six or eight or more rockets. Many civilian objects were damaged by them,” including a city market and a driving school in the city center, the Kakhovka district’s head, Vladimir Leontyev, told the media.

He said Ukraine was using US-provided HIMARS rocket launchers to harass the city, which is located on the left bank of the Dnepr River and hosts a hydroelectric power plant. Ukrainian forces are stationed on the opposite side of the river.

A Ukrainian military spokesperson claimed on Monday that Kiev’s forces have launched an offensive in the south of the country, which includes Kherson Region, where Novaya Kakhovka is located.

Natalya Gumenyuk, who spoke on national TV on behalf of Ukraine’s southern command, declined to offer any details about the purported operation, only claiming that Kiev’s forces breached the “first line of defense” of the Russian forces.

Ukrainian officials have for months teased a looming offensive to retake the city of Kherson and push Russian forces back from Kherson Region. But earlier this month, Mikhail Podoliak, an aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, explained that these types of promises should be considered part of information warfare against Russia.

“Certainly, all public comments are part of information warfare. We need to demoralize the Russian army,” he told the BBC in an interview.

Sergey Aksyonov, the head of Russia’s Crimean Republic, which borders Kherson Region, dismissed Gumenyuk’s words as “fake news, like the previous ones.” He suggested that the claim was made for Kiev’s “Western masters who need to be shown action.” In reality, Ukraine’s forces are suffering significant losses on the southern front, Aksyonov claimed.

INSIGHTS

Iran and Russia Agree on Strategic Cooperation Plan, President Raisi Tells Sputnik

By Sofia Chegodaeva, Sputnik News

Industries and businesses in Iran and Russia have intensified cooperation after Moscow was hit by unprecedented Western sanctions over its special military operation in Ukraine.

During a press conference attended by Sputnik journalists, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi announced that the foreign ministers of Iran and Russia have exchanged project plans for a long-term agreement on bilateral cooperation.

“Cooperation between Iran and Russia is of a strategic nature and it comprises trade, economic, energy, aerospace industries, and some others. Currently, we are discussing investments in energy and oil and gas industries, and some of the projects have been implemented already,” Raisi said.

The president added that a comprehensive cooperation plan has been developed, while the two countries’ foreign ministers have exchanged project plans. “The final version of the plan will be ready in the near future,” Raisi said.

Iranian and Russian companies stepped up cooperation after Moscow was hit by several rounds of unprecedented Western sanctions over its special military operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine. Russia has seen nearly all sectors of its economy sanctioned, and some of its industries have been facing difficulties as a result.

Iran, which has long been living under the pressure of Western sanctions, has demonstrated its support for Russia, saying it is ready to substitute Western companies that have left the Russian market.

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