Putin ally Patrushev talks Ukraine, ‘Western interference’ in Tehran

TEHRAN: Russian and Iranian security chiefs on Wednesday discussed the situation in Ukraine and measures to combat “Western interference” in their internal affairs, Russian state media reported.Russia’s Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, was in Tehran for consultations with Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Russian state news agencies said.Alongside Ukraine, the two discussed “information security, as well as measures to counter interference in the internal affairs of both countries by Western special services,” the TASS news agency reported, citing a readout from the Russian Security Council press service.”The economic potential of Russia and Iran and building foreign trade relations in the face of sanctions pressure was emphasised,” it added.It was not clear exactly what the two sides discussed regarding the conflict in Ukraine.Kyiv and the West say Russia has used Iranian Shahed-136 drones to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in a series of attacks over recent weeks that have forced Ukraine to introduce rolling blackouts in major cities, including the capital, to preserve power.Iran acknowledged for the first time at the weekend it supplied Moscow with drones, but said it sent only a “small number” and they were shipped before the war began. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called that a lie.Last month, two senior Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats told Reuters Iran had promised to provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles, in addition to more drones.Russia has accelerated its efforts to build economic, trade and political relations with Iran and other non-Western countries since it invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, as part of a drive to destroy what it calls US “hegemony” and build a new international order.