Official: Rouhani, Putin to Meet Next Month in Bishkek

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is slated to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Kyrgyzstan in September, a senior official announced.
“Rouhani and Putin will meet on the sidelines of SCO Summit in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek on September 13,” President Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, said on Friday.

Rouhani, who won Iran’s June 14 presidential election, took office on August 4.

On August 6, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged support for Rouhani’s nuclear stance, saying Moscow “absolutely agrees” that Tehran’s nuclear issue should be resolved peacefully, not via ultimatums.

Lavrov also called on the P5+1 group of world powers – Russia, China, France, Britain, and the US plus Germany — to throw their support behind the attitude of the new Iranian administration.

As a veto-wielding power at the UN Security Council, Russia has repeatedly voiced its support for Iran’s peaceful nuclear energy program, voicing opposition to sanctions slapped on Tehran.

The US has imposed several rounds of illegal sanctions on Iran, which Washington claims to be aimed at pressuring Tehran to abandon its nuclear energy program.

Tehran has categorically rejected West’s accusation, arguing that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a committed member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Iran, along with Afghanistan, India, Mongolia, and Pakistan, has an observer status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The SCO is an intergovernmental security organization that was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.