The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF)’s Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Emad al-Din Mustafa Adawi (photo) held discussions with the visiting Qatari and Russian counterparts on Tuesday.

The Chief-of-Staff of the Qatari Armed Forces Major General Ghanim Bin Shaheen Al-Ghanim arrived in Khartoum on Monday on several days visit.

He was received at the airport by Adawi and the Qatari Ambassador to Khartoum Rashid bin Abdulrahman Al Nuaimi as well as a number of SAF Commanders.

Sudan is among the Arab states that refused to take part in the ongoing crisis between several Gulf and Arab countries and Qatar and declared its support for the Kuwaiti efforts to settle the rift.

Meanwhile, Adawi has praised Russia’s roles to achieve international security and peace.

During his meeting with the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, Navy Admiral Alexander Alexovich, Adawi pointed to the steady development of the Sudanese-Russian relations in all fields.

He added “the recent visit of President Omer al-Bashir to Russia has opened prospects for joint cooperation”, saying “we are keen to enhance and develop those ties”.

For his part, Alexovich expressed his country’s appreciation for the current level of cooperation with Sudan, stressing readiness to exert joint efforts to promote relations especially regarding training and exchange of experience.

Sudanese were surprised to hear al-Bashir on his first visit to Russia last month asks President Vladimir Putin to support his country against American plans against Sudan.

He noted that Sudan is concerned about the situation in the Red Sea and sees the U.S. as a problem there, adding that “we would like to discuss the issue from the point of view of the use of bases in the Red Sea.”

Al-Bashir further requested Russian fighter jets for the Sudanese army saying SAF may buy S-300 air defense system to replace the old Soviet surface-to-air missiles.

Last October, Washington lifted economic sanctions on Sudan and the two countries engaged discussion on the removal of the east African country from the list of states sponsor of terrorism.