Putin offers help to Iran to end Middle East war ahead of CIS summit

Russia's President Vladimir Putin vowed Thursday to "do everything" to help end the Middle East war when he met Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian for talks ahead of a regional summit, Russian media reported.

The leaders of two of the world's most sanctioned nations met after arriving in Turkmenistan for a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that starts Friday in the Caspian Sea resort of Avaza. 

"We are ready to do everything that is in our power to contribute to the settlement of this situation," said Putin. He added that Iran had made "real efforts to end the war" since US-Israeli attacks started on February 28, according to Russian news agencies.

Putin also noted the "positive evolution" in Iran-Russia relations.

The two countries have reinforced diplomatic and military links since Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, becoming increasingly reliant on each other.

- Conflict impasse -

Ukraine and Western countries have accused Iran of supplying Russia with Shahed drones and short-range missiles for use in the Ukraine war. Russia has been accused of supplying data to Iran for its attacks on US targets in the Middle East.

Putin and Pezeshkian also met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan last month. And in a call on Wednesday, Putin also told Pezeshkian that he was ready to help mediate in the Middle East war, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported.

The contacts came with Iran-US talks at an apparent impasse. Pezeshkian said this week that negotiations with Washington were "meaningless".

Diplomatic efforts to resolve the Russia's offensive in Ukraine also appear deadlocked, even as both sides intensify attacks.

Putin and Pezeshkian will attend the summit of the CIS -- originally a grouping of former Soviet nations -- with leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Turkmenistan and other Central Asia states. 

The Putin-Pezeshkian meeting was one of several bilateral encounters scheduled on the sidelines of the summit, according to Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov.

- Sphere of influence -

The CIS was established in 1991 to ease the pain of the Soviet collapse and maintain ties among its former republics.

Some states have left -- Georgia withdrew following a 2008 war with Russia, Ukraine halted its participation after Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea and Moldova left in 2023 as it sought closer ties with the European Union.

For Russia, which has found itself isolated since launching the Ukraine conflict in 2022, the CIS proves that it "actually has the orbit and that it has its own sphere of influence that is fortified and institutionalised", Temur Umarov, a researcher at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, told AFP.

But Friday's meeting also comes at a time when several CIS members are seeking to diversify their economic and diplomatic partnerships, notably by strengthening ties with China and Western nations.

"Even if Russia decides to use this platform to propagate anti-Western or anti-Ukrainian rhetoric, that does not mean the other members will automatically subscribe to its position," Zhanibek Arynov, a Kazakhstan-based researcher specialising in Central Asian geopolitics, told AFP.

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