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Putin meets with Iranian spiritual leader’s adviser

The adviser to the Iranian leader has been in Moscow on a visit since February 1 at an invitation from Director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies Leonid Reshetnikov

MOSCOW, February 4. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday held a meeting with adviser to the head and spiritual leader of Iran on international affairs Ali Akbar Velayati who is in Moscow on a working visit, the Kremlin reported.

"We confirm that such a meeting took place," the Kremlin press service said without citing details of the conversation.

The adviser to the Iranian leader has been in Moscow on a visit since February 1 at an invitation from Director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies Leonid Reshetnikov.

The visit agenda envisioned a number of meetings with high-ranking Russian officials. In particular, Velayati already talked to the Russian president’s special representative on Syrian settlement, ambassador at large Alexander Lavrentyev and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev.

Velayati, an experienced Iranian diplomat, was foreign minister for nearly 16 years (1981-1997) and remains an influential politician who in many respects defines the foreign policy course of the Islamic Republic.