"Seyed Ebrahim Raisi was an outstanding politician whose whole life was devoted to serving the Motherland."
"He rightfully enjoyed the high respect of his compatriots and considerable prestige abroad."
"As a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good-neighborly relations between our countries, and made great efforts to bring them to the level of strategic partnership," Putin said, Sputnik reported.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian have martyred in a helicopter crash in the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan.
The helicopter carrying President Raeisi and his accompanying delegation crashed on Sunday in the Dizmar forest, nestled between the cities of Varzaqan and Jolfa in East Azarbaijan Province.
It was transporting Raeisi, Amir-Abdollahian, East Azarbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati, Friday Prayers leader of the city of Tabriz Seyyed Mohammad Ali Al-e Hashem, and a member of the president’s bodyguard team Mahdi Mousavi. The helicopter’s pilot, co-pilot, and crew were also among others on board the chopper.
President Raeisi and his accompanying delegation were returning from a ceremony to inaugurate a dam on the Aras River with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
MP/