U.S. special envoy to visit Moscow, Riyadh for talks on Syria crisisAugust 27, 2015 - 11:58 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The newly appointed U.S. special envoy for Syria will visit Moscow, Geneva, and Riyadh this week in an attempt to find a political solution to the four-year old Syrian conflict, officials said Wednesday, Aug 26, according to RFE/RL European service. Michael Ratney will meet with Russian officials in Moscow Friday and Saudi officials in Riyadh Saturday, August 29, "to continue discussions about working towards a genuine political transition and bringing an end to the devastating crisis in Syria," an official said. In Geneva, he will meet with the United Nation's special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, RFE/RL says. Ratney, who has previously worked for the State Department in Jerusalem, Doha, and other cities in the Middle East, was appointed to his current post in July. "The secretary wants to continue to explore options with the Russians and with Saudi Arabia on what those political options might look like," said State Department spokesman John Kirby. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |