Tehran dismisses Putin death plot

Last Modified: 15 Oct 2007
By: Channel 4 News

Russian special services have been warned of a plot to assassinate President Vladimir Putin during a visit to Iran.

Iran's Foreign Ministry has dismissed the report as totally baseless and calculated to undermine relations between the countries, but a news agency said security services had been told suicide bombers and kidnappers were training to kill or capture Mr Putin this week.

The visit was destined to attract attention because the west is urging Russia to take a harder line over Iran's nuclear plans.

'A reliable source in one of the Russian special services, has received information from several sources outside Russia, that during the president of Russia's visit to Tehran an assassination attempt is being plotted.'
News agency report

A report said: "A reliable source in one of the Russian special services, has received information from several sources outside Russia, that during the president of Russia's visit to Tehran an assassination attempt is being plotted.

"A number of groups of suicide bombers are preparing for this aim."

The agency quoted Kremlin sources as saying they had no comment on the report but that the president had been informed.

Mr Putin is expected to continue with his planned visit. He has travelled to Wiesbaden, Germany, for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel and they are expected to discuss Iran.

Kremlin deputy spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who is in Tehran ahead of Putin's scheduled arrival, said: "According to the schedule, the president is coming tonight. We have no information that he is changing his plans."

An Iranian news agency quoted an "informed source" as saying Mr Putin will travel to Tehran.

Mr Putin will be the first Russian president to visit Iran since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin went in 1943 and he will formally be in Tehran for a summit of Caspian Sea states.

But a meeting planned with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could give Mr Putin a chance to seek a peaceful compromise over Tehran's nuclear programme and to demonstrate his independence from America on Middle East issues.

Analysts say repeated delays in completing the Bushehr power station are a sign that, whatever it says in public, the Kremlin has deep misgivings about the Ahmadinejad administration. Russia says the delays are due to technical problems.