Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev met in Tehran for a conversation before holding the trilateral summit with participation of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, RIA Novosti reported.

"I am very glad to see you, this time in Tehran: we meet regularly and talk on the phone," Putin said, adding that Russia-Azerbaijan relations have special character and, certainly, it is the nature of strategic partnership.

He noted that bilateral efforts to develop relations are not in vain, and and commodity turnover growth is an example of that: this indicator has grown almost by 62% for the first nine months of 2017.

"Our relations with Russia are of a strategic nature. We cooperate in all directions," Aliyev said, adding that this is a full-fledged relationship of friends, neighbors and close partner.