It’s happened twice now in a week.

A telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and Iran.

As the US and Israel continue their strikes on Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin is styling himself as international peacemaker.

That’s not an easy sell.

After all, it was the Kremlin leader who ordered Russia’s full-scale invasion of an independent sovereign nation in 2022.

Back then, the UN General Assembly had condemned the invasion of Ukraine as a violation of the UN Charter.

And while the Kremlin is now calling for “a swift de-escalation and political resolution [of the Iran conflict]”, Russia is continuing its war of attrition against Ukraine.