MOSCOW. May 20 (Interfax) - Following initial reports on the "hard landing" of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday evening, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the Iranian ambassador and immediately issued a number of directives to the Russian defense minister and emergency situations minister, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.
"You know that, late last night, in fact closer to midnight, when alarming reports were coming from Tehran, the president invited the Iranian ambassador in Moscow and had a conversation in the presence of the Russian defense minister, emergency situations minister, and a presidential advisor, where the president, having listened to the ambassador, immediately issued urgent commands to the heads of these agencies," Peskov told journalists on Monday.