MOSCOW (Dispatches) -- 
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed deep sorrow over the martyrdom of his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, calling it “a great loss”.
Putin made the remark during a meeting with chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, who travel to Tehran to attend the late Iranian president’s funeral ceremony on Wednesday.
“President Raisi’s death is a great loss, first and foremost for Iran and its people. He was a very reliable partner, a direct, self-confident man, who was motivated by national interests,” Putin said.
He also described the late Iranian president as “a man of his word,” adding that “if we agreed on something with him, we could always be sure that those agreements would be fulfilled.”
Putin further noted that Moscow is ready to continue cooperation with Iran just like under Raisi’s administration, pledging to do his best to ensure the continuation and development of Russian-Iranian relations in the same manner.
Putin announced Russia’s readiness to help Iran investigate the causes of the copter crash that killed President Raisi and his accompanying delegation.
The Russian president further asked Volodin to convey his heartfelt condolences to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
In an earlier message of condolence, Putin had called Raisi a true friend who made serious efforts to develop the level of strategic cooperation between Moscow and Tehran.
On Monday, Putin held a telephone conversation with the interim Iranian president, Muhammad Mokhber, who was appointed to the post following the martyrdom of President Raisi.
Putin reiterated the need to follow the late Iranian president’s policy to further strengthen ties between Tehran and Moscow. 
Mokhber, for his part, thanked Putin for expressing sympathy with the people of his country and called for more cooperation between Iran and Russia to serve the interests of the two countries.
Earlier, Putin had met with Iran’s Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali and expressed sadness over the incident. Putin on Sunday evening invited Jalali to his office in the Kremlin and studied the dimensions of the incident, giving the ambassador his assurance that Russia would do whatever necessary to help Iran.
Separately in a letter to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei, Putin hailed Raisi as an “outstanding politician” and said his death was an “irreplaceable loss.”
“Raisi was an outstanding politician whose entire life was dedicated to serving his homeland,” Putin said in the letter.
“As a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good-neighborly relations between our countries, and made great efforts to take them to the level of a strategic partnership.”