Symptoms of SNABU:

President Vladimir Putin made clear to Washington on Tuesday that Russia would not accept military action against Iran and he invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Moscow for talks.

Putin made the invitation to Ahmadinejad, shunned by the West which fears his nuclear programme is a cover for building atomic weapons, after meeting him and leaders of other Caspian Sea states who ruled out any strikes on Iran from their region.

Dates for Ahmadinejad’s visit would be arranged through diplomatic channels, RIA news agency quoted a statement by the two leaders as saying.

Earlier, in comments aimed at the United States, Putin said during his talks in Iran: “We should not even think of using force in this region.”

“We need to agree that using the territory of one Caspian Sea (state) in the event of aggression against another is impossible,” he told the presidents of Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan at a summit of Caspian Sea states.

Western nations accuse Tehran of seeking atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies. Washington has refused to rule out the use of force if diplomacy fails to resolve the row.

Asked about Russia’s invitation to Ahmadinejad, a U.S. State Department official said: “It’s up to the Russians to determine how they want to manage their bilateral relations with Iran.” Article

Related:

Caspian Sea states declared in Tehran on Tuesday they would not let their soil be used for an attack on any of them, an apparent response to speculation the United States could resort to force in its nuclear row with Iran.

…The declaration followed a speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin calling on the Caspian nations not to let any third country use their territory for an attack, a comment apparently directed at former Soviet state Azerbaijan.

The US military has inspected airfields in Azerbaijan, which has a partnership deal with NATO, amid Russian media speculation they could be planning to use the facilities in a possible strike on Iran. Azeri officials deny any such plan. Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan said under no circumstances will they allow (the use of their) territories by third countries to launch aggression or other military action against any of the member states.

Also in the final declaration, they acknowledged the rights of all signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty — which includes Iran — to develop peaceful nuclear energy.

[snip]

Putin is due to hold talks with Ahmadinejad, discussions Russian officials said would focus on Iran’s nuclear program. Moscow says it sees no evidence of a military program and is resisting Western calls for new sanctions.

We signed today a declaration which confirms the right of every nation to develop peaceful nuclear programs without restrictions, that is also something we are going to discuss, Putin said before the bilateral talks. Article

Also:

The Islamic republic has regularly hosted allies who share its antipathy towards the United States such as Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.

But a visit by a statesman of Putin’s stature — his country is a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council — was a major event.

The last Kremlin chief to visit Iran was Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who attended the famous conference of the “Big Three” World War II Allied powers in Tehran in 1943 alongside Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Article

Keeping up with the kidnappings in Nigeria’s oil region:

Gunmen struck again in Port Harcourt on Sunday night and kidnapped five year old Mares Divine Ifeanyi Emeruwa, son of Speaker of Shell Petroleum Development Company Project Engineer, Mr. Ifeanyi Obioma Emeruwa.

This came just as the father of the Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Chief Lawrence Befii Nwile was released. Article