Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Russia on Tuesday to attend an international meeting despite violent anti-government protests in Tehran, a Reuters reporter said.
Ahmadinejad arrived in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) of Central Asian powers, where Iran has observer status.
In the past three days, the Iranian capital has been gripped by the biggest and most violent anti-government protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The demonstrators say that last Friday's presidential election was rigged to secure victory for the hardline Ahmadinejad over the moderate opposition.
He was supposed to have arrived in Yekaterinburg on Monday.
State-run Iranian TV, monitored by the British Broadcasting Corporation, said that before his departure Ahmadinejad said he would discuss bilateral relations with various leaders at the summit as well as current global issues and a changing world situation. The report did not elaborate.