Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will make his debut at an expanded meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Turkmenistan on Wednesday, the Kremlin has said.
Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov said it was the first time in the CIS's history that an Iranian President had been invited to an expanded session.
The CIS is a regional intergovernmental organisation made up of Russia and former Soviet republics. It was formed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Member countries include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The invitation to the summit comes as Moscow and Tehran grow closer. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a 20-year ‘comprehensive strategic partnership treaty’ in Moscow at the start of 2025, covering cooperation in trade, military, science, education and culture.
Ushakov said no separate meeting between Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was planned in Awaza, Turkmenistan during CIS.
Relations between Moscow and Yerevan have cooled in recent years.
In February 2024, Armenia froze participation in the Russian-led CSTO security alliance, after the bloc failed to intervene during Azerbaijan’s 2023 military operation in Garabagh.
Relations have also soured over Pashinyan’s statements saying that Armenia intends to apply for membership of the European Union.
The Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has said it would consider suspending Armenia from the bloc if it pursued EU membership.
Putin has previously said that membership of both the EAEU and the EU at the same time is “incompatible.”
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