MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Iran his condolences on the death of the Islamic republic’s leader Ebrahim Raisi, the Kremlin said on its website.

"Please accept my deepest condolences over the enormous tragedy that befell the Islamic Republic of Iran - a helicopter crash that claimed the lives of President Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi and a number of other prominent officials of your country," Putin said in his telegram.

A helicopter carrying Raisi crashed in Iran’s province of East Azerbaijan on May 19. Iran’s top diplomat, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and a number of other Iranian officials were also on board and died.

Putin and Raisi last met in Moscow on December 7, 2023, and the two leaders took part in an online BRICS summit last November. The presidents of Russia and Iran held two phone conversations this year, with the last taking place on April 16.

In all, since Raisi assumed the presidency in the summer of 2021, he and Putin had met five times, including on the sidelines of international events, and held 15 phone conversations.