MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who serves as special presidential envoy for the Middle East and Africa, has discussed ways to resolve the crisis in Sudan with the country's Ambassador to Moscow Mohammed Sirraj, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The parties held a thorough exchange of views on prospects for resolving the military and political crisis in Sudan. In this regard, Russia reiterated its fundamental position about the need to end hostilities as soon as possible and build a sustainable intra-Sudanese negotiation process in order to overcome the existing differences for the sake of preserving the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Sudan," the statement reads.

In addition, the parties also discussed a number of practical issues related to the future of Russia-Sudan relations.

The situation in Sudan escalated in April 2023 due to disagreements between the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the ruling Sovereignty Council, and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti). The main points of contention between them pertain to the timeline and methods for unifying the armed forces of Sudan, as well as who should be appointed as commander-in-chief of the army: a career military officer, which is al-Burhan’s preferred option, or an elected civilian president, as Dagalo insists. On April 15, 2023, clashes broke out between the two groups, which spread to other parts of the country. The opposing sides held a series of consultations in the Saudi city of Jeddah in 2023. To date, several ceasefires have been agreed but none of the agreements has been fully implemented.