Vladimir Putin has praised the late president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, and said he was a “reliable partner”.
Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijan border over the weekend along with his foreign minister and seven others.
Speaking on the leader, Mr Putin said he was “a man of his word” who carried out any agreements the pair made.
“He was truly a reliable partner, a man sure of himself, who acted in the national interest,” Russian news agencies quoted Mr Putin as telling Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia’s lower house of parliament.
“He was, of course, a man of his word and it was always good to work with him. What I mean is if we came to an agreement on something, you could be sure the agreement was carried out.”
The Kremlin leader asked Mr Volodin, who will be attending memorial events in Iran, to pass on “words of our sincere condolences in connection with this tragedy”.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has strengthened political, trade and military ties with Iran in a deepening relationship that the US and Israel view with concern.
