Alexei Miller, the head of Gazprom, said Russia plans to begin electricity supplies to Iran with the help of Armenia, reported Gazeta.ru.
"Armenia plans to build a high-voltage power line next year, which will allow Russia to export electricity to the Iranian market," Miller said on March 15.
He also stressed that the modernization of the fifth block of the Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant in Armenia has been completed. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin reported that he does not exclude the possibility whereby Russia and Armenia switch to a system of payments in national currencies.
Russian and Iranian energy relations go back several decades. Russian cooperation was crucial in Iran building and completing its Bushehr nuclear power plant, which opened in September 2011. That plant was the Middle East's first civilian nuclear power plant.