FM Lavrov To Meet Iranian, Belarusian Counterparts Next Week

Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will host his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian on 17 Jan in Moscow for talks on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA, the Iran nuclear deal).

• The meeting comes after a call between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ebrahim Raisi on 11 Jan that readouts state focused on cooperation in energy, transport, and logistics. Iran facing significant scrutiny for its provision of drones to Moscow for use in its invasion of Ukraine. Unclear what efforts the two foreign ministers can make on the JCPoA, given that the US and E3 are giving increasing sings the agreement in its 2015 format is unsalvagable.
• This will be followed by a major presser on 18 Jan reviewing the past 12 months, followed by a 48hr trip to the Belarusian capital Minsk for talks with new Foreign Minister Sergei Aleinik. UK-based Royal United Service Institute think tank has published a paperinvestigating Russia-Belarus links and vulnerabilities in the context of the war in Ukraine.