Moscow hopes new Iranian president will attend SCO summit in July - Kremlin

MOSCOW. June 4 (Interfax) - The Kremlin expects the new Iranian president, who will be elected in late June, to participate in a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kazakhstan on July 3-4, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said.

"This summit will provide an opportunity for numerous bilateral contacts. These are important in light of the elections in India which have just concluded and the upcoming election in Iran at the end of this month," he told reporters.

"We hope that the new president of Iran will attend this forum," Ushakov said.

The early presidential elections in Iran are scheduled for June 28.

On May 19, a helicopter with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on board crashed in the mountains in northwestern Iran, not far from the Azerbaijani border. Mohammad Mokhber, who served as the first vice president under Raisi, is currently acting Iranian president.