Ahmadinejad arrived in Russia on Tuesday, his first trip since the disputed results of Sunday's ballot, to attend a regional security summit. But in his address to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Ahmadinejad made no reference to the riots back home.

Instead, he told delegates – including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and China's Hu Jintao – that "the international capitalist order" was retreating.

"It is absolutely obvious that the age of empires has ended and its revival will not take place," he said.

Speaking shortly after Ahmadinejad's arrival at the summit, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters that the election results in Iran were an "internal affair of the Iranian people."

"We welcome the fact that the elections have taken place," he said, adding it was "symbolic" that the Iranian leader should choose Russia for his first foreign trip in his new term in office. He said it reflected the special ties between the two countries.

tkw/AFP/AP

Editor: Jennifer Abramsohn