Visit to Grozny shows Iran's interest in regions of Northern Caucasus

The sitting of the Russian-Iranian intergovernmental commission in Grozny will give impetus to trade and economic relations of Northern Caucasus with Iran, Radjab Safarov is sure. This may be followed by Iran's cultural and religious influence on the republics of Northern Caucasus, Akhmet Yarlykapov believes.

As a result of the sitting, Russia and Iran agreed to develop cooperation in the field of oil, gas, nuclear industry, finance, and logistics, the website of the Russian government reports.

The decision to hold the 16th plenary sitting of the Permanent Russian-Iranian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation in Grozny was unique and pragmatic at the same time, Radjab Safarov, Director General of the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Iran, has stated.

Iranians came to Chechnya to get acquainted with its investment potentials, said Lana Ravandi-Fadai, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

According to her story, the Iranians are known for their pragmatism; they try not to officially divide Muslims into Sunnis and Shiites and speak primarily of a single Muslim Ummah.

"Therefore, the restrictions (for Shiites in Chechnya) will not affect the Iran's position in any way. Iran is interested in rapprochement both with Russia as a whole and with its individual regions, especially with the Caucasus, which is close to Iran territorially and culturally," Ms Lana Ravandi-Fadai has added.

Akhmet Yarlykapov, a senior researcher at the MGIMO's (Moscow State Institute for Foreign Relations) Centre for Caucasian Studies, is sure that Ramzan Kadyrov could not mediate the sitting and represent Russia's interests in Iran.

"He mainly operates in the Arab countries of the Middle East; while Chechen authorities treated Iran with suspicion," Mr Yarlykapov has explained.