Putin shrugs off plot report, expected in Iran

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, brushing off the threat of a reported plot to assassinate him, is expected to go ahead with a planned visit to Iran on Tuesday focusing on Tehran's nuclear row with the West.

Putin, whose tough-guy image has made him hugely popular at home, visits the Islamic Republic ahead of parliamentary elections in December and speculation on how he will maintain a grasp on power in Russia after he quits the top Kremlin job.

In the first visit by a Russian leader since Josef Stalin's in 1943, Putin will meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is fighting calls from Western powers to shut down nuclear work that Washington says is aimed at building atomic bombs.

Kremlin officials had earlier said plans for the visit were in doubt after a Russian news agency report said suicide bombers and kidnappers were hatching a plot to kill him there.

"Of course I am going to Iran," Putin said in Germany on Monday.

"If we have a chance to keep up these direct contacts, then we will do it, hoping for a positive, mutually advantageous result." Aides said he would arrive on Tuesday.

Iran called the report on the alleged plot "psychological warfare" by its enemies -- an apparent reference to Western powers -- to undermine Russian-Iranian relations.

Tehran also held up Putin's visit and the gathering of other leaders at Tuesday's summit of Caspian Sea states he will also attend as evidence that U.S. efforts to isolate it were failing.

PUTIN'S STRUGGLE

In Russia, the plot reports dominated air waves and analysts said they could galvanize support for Putin amidst public anxiety over what may follow his two successive terms in power.

"I think this is nothing to do with Iran and nothing to do with terrorism. I think this is an example of the struggle inside Putin's administration," said Nikolai Zlobin, director of the Russian and Eurasia Project at the Washington-based World Security Institute.

Over the past week, some EU states have stepped up calls with Washington for a third U.N. Security Council resolution for sanctions against Iran if it does not halt its atomic program.

But Putin, who resists Western pressure in a group of six world powers for harsher penalties, said patience and talks were the best path and trying to intimidate Tehran was "hopeless".

Iran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons.

A planned private meeting with Ahmadinejad could give Putin a chance to seek a compromise on the nuclear issue.

He is also expected to meet Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who under Iran's clerical rule has ultimate authority and the final say in all matters of state.

But at home in Russia, the focus is not on whether Putin will manage to defuse the atomic row, but on his image.

"I don't known if (the plot reports are) true or not true, but it makes him look like a hero, if he goes there. It makes him look like Jean-Claude Van Damme, or Steven Seagal - it's a drama," said veteran Russian broadcaster Sergey Dorenko.

(Additional reporting by Dmitry Solovyov and Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow)