MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold many bilateral meetings, including with the Indian and Iranian leaders, on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Astana, Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov said.
"This summit, apart from the fact that this is a summit of an organization where we are playing a leading role and which we consider as very important in our international activity, will give an opportunity for numerous bilateral contacts [of the Russian leader]," he said, adding that such meetings are of special importance "in the light of the elections in India, which have just finished, and the upcoming election in Iran."
"We hope that Iran’s new president will attend this forum," he stressed.
The summit is scheduled for July 3 and 4 and the Kremlin id actively preparing for it, he noted.
The Russian president plans other foreign visits, the Kremlin aide said, however, not going into detal.
The parliamentary elections in India were held in seven stages from April 19 through June 1. As many as 543 seats in the lower house of parliament were contested. India has 968 million eligible voters. The National Democratic Alliance by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (People’s Party) won more than half of seats.
On May 19, a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi crashed in Iran’s Eastern Azerbaijan Province. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, East Azerbaijan Province Governor Malek Rahmati, Tabriz's Friday Prayer Imam Seyyed Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashem and the chief of the presidential guard were also onboard the helicopter. All five passengers and three crew were killed in the crash. First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber became the acting President of Iran. A snap presidential election is called for June 28. Candidates for president can be registered from May 30 through June 3 and from June 4, the Guardian Council will have a week to consider these candidacies. The final list of candidates is expected to be made public on June 11.