Putin, Ahmadinejad discuss future contacts

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his election victory and the two leaders have discussed future contacts, the Kremlin said on Saturday. "Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have expressed mutual readiness to continue the onward development of the Russian-Iranian cooperation," the Kremlin said. "During the conversation, the prospective plans of the heads of state's further contacts have been mapped out," the Kremlin said in a statement without providing any further details. Putin was inaugurated for his third term as Russia's president on Monday. Moscow has close military and commercial ties with Tehran. It has always warned in public that military action against Iran risked having catastrophic consequences and has said that the crisis over its nuclear programme must be solved diplomatically.