“This coming weekend, Secretary of Defense Austin will go on a multi-day tour to the Middle East,” RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.
Ryder clarified that we are talking about visits to Egypt, Jordan and Israel.
Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said that the United States, together with the European Union, are seeking to divert the attention of the international community from the crises taking place in the Middle East.