MOSCOW. May 20 (Interfax) - The Iranian authorities have not invited Russia to the funeral of President Ebrahim Raisi, but such ceremonies traditionally do not envisage the presence of foreign representatives, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"The funeral tradition does not envisage any ceremonies involving foreign representatives, so we have no such information from our Iranian friends," Peskov told reporters in response to a question as to whether the participation of Kremlin or Russian government representatives in the funeral events in Iran was expected.
As reported, a helicopter carrying Raisi crashed in the mountains in northwestern Iran, not far from the Azerbaijani border, in thick fog. The helicopter was also carrying Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, East Azerbaijan Governor Malek Rahmati and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem. There were no survivors in the crash.