By Neelam Rahim

Russian President Vladimir Putin, shunned by much of the world after he invaded Ukraine, travelled to Iran on Tuesday on a show of deepening ties between the two nations, united in the isolation from the West. The Russian leader met with Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi soon after arriving in Dahran. He later met with Turkish President Erdogan. This was his first trip to the Soviet Union since the start of the Ukrainian war in February.

Speaking to Radio Islam, Dr Ivan Starodubtsev is a leading Russian expert on Turkey and Russian-Turkish relations.  

According to Dr Ivan, the main trip from the meeting of these leaders would be that this visit was symbolic to Dahran. This country vigorously opposes the United States in the international arena. 

“Symbolically, Dahran was chosen for this meeting. From Dahran, the Russian President brought several agreements, so I believe this trip was quite positive for him,” he said.

Dr Ivan also suggests that for Turkish President Erdogan, this trip was about the probability of the operation in Syria and means that the agreement between Russia and Turkey will ultimately be reached.

The White House, on the other hand, raised concerns that Russia wants to acquire armed drones from Iran, and that is why the Russian Leader was there.

Dr Ivan tells Radio Islam two sides to this question. Firstly the West supplies armour to Ukraine and does not want this war to be stopped while they somehow provoke. They have lost the right to express concerns over any arm procurement by Russia. On the other side, the drone issue is a massive hype as with the drones, and the war cannot be won, which is quite an exhilarated topic. 

He says, I don’t think that Iran may help, and I don’t believe that Russia requires anybody’s help regarding such supplies. 

According to Dr Ivan, as an ordinary citizen, the sanctions by the West are not felt much in everyday life in the markets or outside. 

He says Russia was integrated into global economics, and there is no way not to be affected by Western sanctions.