Russian President Vladimir Putin is to meet Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian for the first time on Friday, at a forum in the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan.

Yury Ushakov, Putin’s aide on foreign policy, told journalists on Monday that the leaders will meet in Ashgabat while attending an event celebrating a Turkmen poet.

“This meeting has great significance both for discussing bilateral issues as well as, of course, discussing the sharply escalated situation in the Middle East,” Ushakov said.

Leaders of Central Asian countries are meeting to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the birth of 18th-century poet Magtymguly Pyragy.

Putin’s attendance had not been announced previously.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Iran last week for talks with Pezeshkian and First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref.

The talks come as Israel intensively bombs Lebanon, targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah, and Russia has evacuated some citizens.

Russia has close relations with Iran, and Western governments have accused Tehran of supplying Moscow with drones and missiles, which it has repeatedly denied.

Pezeshkian will also hold talks with Putin during a visit to Russia this month to participate in a BRICS summit of emerging economies.

Separately on Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry issued a statement marking the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught, in which Tehran praised the attack that killed some 1,200 people and saw the kidnapping of another 251, 97 of whom remain in captivity.

“The operation on October 7, 2023… was a turning point in the history of the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people against the occupation and oppression of the Zionist regime,” the ministry said.

It described the attack as a release of “the Palestinian people’s pent-up historic anger against eight decades of occupation, murder and genocide.”

The statement also accused Israel’s allies of supporting these actions.

“Supporters of the occupying regime, especially the United States, have been complicit in the crimes of this regime” against Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians and Yemenis, it said.

It added that they “must be held accountable for supplying weapons and supporting the Zionist regime.”