Sudan has reached an agreement with the Russian Defense Ministry on assistance in upgrading its armed forces, President Omar al-Bashir said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in Sochi. Sudan finds the situation in the Red Sea worrisome, al-Bashir said, adding that “US interference in these affairs is also a problem,” TASS reports. The Sudanese president said that US intervention was “to blame for Sudan’s split” into two states. “As a result we need protection from aggressive actions by the US. We believe that what is happening in Syria now is an effect of US interference.”