Meeting on Syria in the Astana format
1 Russia - Syria During the recent International Economic Forum in the city of St. Petersburg, the Russian Presidential Special Representative for the Middle East and North Africa, and the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Mikhail Bogdanov, stated that an international meeting on Syria in the Astana format could take place before the end of June in the city of Nur-Sultan. He did not give the exact date of the meeting. He noted that Russia expects that a new meeting of the editorial commission of the Syrian Constitutional Committee will take place in the near future. 2 Russia - Azerbaijan - Armenia Trilateral consultations of the representatives from Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia were held in Moscow. The parties discussed the de-escalation in certain areas of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border - the TASS news agency reported while citing their sources. It was noted that the parties agreed to continue such negotiations. No details of the meeting were reported. 3 The USA - Afghanistan The Pentagon’s spokesman John Kirby stated that the USA plan to concentrate on providing a financial support to the Afghan forces after pulling of the US troops from Afghanistan. In the longer term, the USA will do so with some logistical support. Earlier, the Pentagon announced that the pulling of the US troops from Afghanistan is completed by 30-44%. It was noted that the American servicemen "have already transferred 6 bases to the Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan" in different provinces of the country. 4 The USA The Pentagon’s deputy director of the hypersonic research and development, Michael White, stated that the USA intend to accelerate the deployment of hypersonic weapons. The draft military budget for the fiscal year of 2022, which begins on 1st of October, 2021, meets such goals. It was noted that the Pentagon gives the priority to the development of air-launched cruise missiles. Michael White specified that such weapons, due to their size, are more compatible with other hypersonic platforms. Currently the Pentagon is busy with offensive and defensive systems. 5 Russia - The USA The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stated that the relations between Russia and the USA are going through a stage of a full-fledged revision. She noted that earlier it was decided to analyze the state of the relations, and the process is taking place right now. She added that the Russian Ambassador to the USA, Anatoly Antonov, is in Russia. He is holding consultations with various branches of the Russian government. 6 Russia The Russian Minister of Finances, Anton Siluanov, announced that within a month Russia will completely abandon the US dollar in the structure of the National Wealth Fund. Russia will also reduce the share of the British pound. He explained that the decision was made “to get rid of the dollar assets completely, and replace the investments in dollars with an increase in euros and in gold”. The share of the yuan will increase as well. The share of the Japanese yen won’t change. Due to such statements, the dollar rate went down during the recent trading on the Moscow Exchange, and the ruble is growing. Constantine Reztsov, specially for the ANNA NEWS.
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