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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends, good afternoon. I am very happy to see you.

I want to note that our relations are developing actively. But I must begin today’s meeting by expressing my condolences to you, Mr President, and to all the Iranian people, with regard to the deaths of Iranian Muslims in Saudi Arabia. We understand this is a great tragedy, and once again express our sincere condolences on the death of these pilgrims.

As for our cooperation, we are largely satisfied with how it’s progressing – on the global arena, in the fight against terrorism, in the security sphere, and our ties in various areas, including work on peaceful nuclear energy and other major projects which we have been discussing extensively lately.

President of Iran Hassan Rouhani (retranslated): Mr President, I am very happy that we have the opportunity to meet today and discuss issues of mutual interest.

Fortunately, in the last two years, relations between Iran and Russia have been developing well and are gaining momentum. We had good, coordinated work within the framework of the P5+1 talks with Iran and we achieved some good agreements. I do not doubt that these agreements will open the path for developing our bilateral cooperation in science and technology as well as other areas.

Until now, we have had good consultations on regional problems. Today, everyone in the world understands that if we do not resolve the problems in the Middle East, these problems will leak into other regions and overtake the entire world. Russia and Iran’s roles in ensuring security in the region are of exceptional significance.

Of course, the tragedy that occurred last Thursday in Mecca has deeply shocked us. Thank you for your condolences to us and the Iranian people.

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