Ahmadinejad due in Russia on first trip since vote

By Guy Faulconbridge and Chris Buckley
YEKATERINBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was due in Russia on Monday for a security and trade summit with Asian leaders, his first foreign trip since his disputed re-election.
After weekend protests in Tehran and other cities over the result of Friday's vote, Ahmadinejad may want to show a business-as-usual face by attending a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
Iran has observer status at the SCO, which groups Russia, China and four Central Asian states.
Supporters of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi postponed plans to hold a protest rally in Tehran on Monday after the Interior Ministry declared it would be illegal.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev plans to meet Ahmadinejad on the sidelines of the summit to discuss bilateral ties and Iran's nuclear program, a Kremlin source said. Russia has supplied nuclear fuel to Iran for a civilian nuclear reactor.
Chinese President Hu Jintao also has a meeting scheduled with Iran's president in Yekaterinburg, a Chinese official said.
Iranian state television said Ahmadinejad was due to fly to Russia later on Monday, a day after holding a triumphant rally attended by tens of thousands of people.
Besides Russia and China, the SCO groups the ex-Soviet Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. In addition to Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan and India have observer status. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been invited as a guest.
Iran's president, who helps rule the world's fifth-largest oil producer, has made a tradition of stealing the limelight at major conferences, including an SCO meeting in Shanghai in 2006 that was dominated by news about Tehran's nuclear program.
The leaders of India and Pakistan are also likely to meet in Yekaterinburg, their first such meeting since last November's attack on Mumbai.
NUCLEAR-ARMED POWERS
A meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari could help break the ice between the two nuclear-armed powers.
"We consider that this organization is an important platform in the sense of strengthening trust, regional security and assistance in economic cooperation," Zardari told Russia's Kommersant newspaper in an interview published on Monday.
He said nothing about a possible meeting with India's leader in the interview and it was unclear whether they would hold a bilateral discussion or simply take part in the wider meeting.
SCO leaders meet for dinner with Medvedev on Monday and some observer nations will also attend. On Tuesday, a fuller meeting of SCO leaders and observer countries will take place. Continued...
Source: Reuters