TEHRAN, March 6. /TASS/. Russia’s Ambassador to Tehran Levan Dzhagaryan has handed Ali Akbar Velayati, the chief adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the spokesman for the Russian embassy in Tehran, Maksim Suslov, told TASS on Saturday.

"The Ambassador of the Russian Federation was invited to visit the foreign affairs advisor to the Supreme Leader. At today’s meeting he handed the Russian president’s message for Iran’s religious leader," he said adding that "the message was devoted to the strengthening of bilateral relations and to international issues."

According to the Russian embassy’s spokesman, "the letter was a reply to Khamenei’s message for Putin, which Speaker of Iran’s Majlis (unicameral parliament - TASS) Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf handed during his meeting with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin in early February."

Qalibaf visited Moscow on February 7-9 leading an Iranian parliamentary delegation at the State Duma speaker’s official invitation. According to the Iranian politician, Khamenei’s letter for Putin focused on long-term strategic coordination with Russia and on the development of economic and political ties between Tehran and Moscow.