Russian diplomat: Russia expects Iranian president's visit in fall of 2014

Moscow expects Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to visit Russia in the fall of 2014 to take part in the 4th meeting of the heads of the Caspian states in Astrakhan, Russian Ambassador to Iran Levan Dzhagarian said. "I would like to mention the 4th session of the heads of the Caspian states in Astrakhan scheduled for the fall of 2014. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov handed an official invitation to this meeting to Rouhani while visiting Tehran on December 11," Dzhagarian said in an interview with Interfax when asked whether top-level contacts between Russia and Iran are expected in the near future, The Voice of Russia reported on Saturday. "Apart from the session itself, a conference of the foreign ministers of the five nations is expected to take place in Moscow in spring as a milestone event in preparing the Astrakhan summit, at which, along with the Caspian problems, the Russian and Iranian foreign policy chiefs will certainly have a good opportunity to exchange views on key international and regional issues," he said. Political contacts between Moscow and Tehran are regular and are maintained not only at the ministerial but also at the inter-governmental, inter-parliamentary, and interregional levels, he said.