Putin visited Ashgabat, where he met with Iran's new president.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has urged the authorities of Turkmenistan to arrest the Russian leader "in accordance with international norms." However, Turkmenistan is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which served as the basis for the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing an arrest warrant for Putin in March of last year. The President of Russia is accused of unlawfully exporting Ukrainian children to territories not controlled by Kyiv.

Since the warrant was issued, Putin has refrained from visiting countries that ratified the Rome Statute. However, in early September, he visited Mongolia, which did not arrest Putin despite calls from Kyiv and human rights defenders.

On Friday, at the Ashgabat forum, Vladimir Putin met for the first time with the new President of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian.

The negotiations between the two leaders are taking place against the backdrop of a sharply escalating situation in the Middle East. Iran recently launched a second ballistic missile attack against Israel this year. Israel is conducting operations in Lebanon against the Iran-backed radical Shiite group "Hezbollah" and has stated that it will respond to Iran for its strikes. At a recent UN Security Council meeting, Russia effectively supported Iran's position regarding the conflict with Israel.

In turn, a number of countries, including the USA, accuse Iran of supplying Russia with ballistic missiles for use in the war against Ukraine. Tehran denies this, and there is currently no evidence of the use of such missiles, unlike the "Shahed" drones previously supplied by Iran.

Vladimir Putin also spoke with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and will hold separate talks with Turkmenistan's President Serdar Berdymukhamedov.

The forum in Ashgabat was initially planned as a summit of the leaders of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) but was restructured into a cultural event for unknown reasons. Following this, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan canceled his visit to Ashgabat.

Official reports mentioned the participation of around a dozen heads of state in the forum, without specifying which ones. Currently, the leaders of Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan have arrived in Ashgabat.