Charles Mainz

Addressing journalists in the capital Yerevan, Vance said a proposed transit corridor between Armenia and Azerbaijan would unlock the region's potential.

Billed as the Trump route for international peace and prosperity, the corridor seeks to reinforce efforts to end decades of war between the South Caucasus' rivals and eventually facilitate U.S.

access to critical minerals further east.

Vance also announced new trade deals with Armenia in nuclear energy, advanced computer chips and drones.

The growing U.S.

role comes at the expense of the region's traditional power broker Russia, currently bogged down by its war in Ukraine.

Charles Mainz, NPR News.

Russia's Federal Security Service said a Russian citizen had been detained in Dubai on suspicion of carrying out the attack on Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, who was now in custody in Moscow.

Alexeyev, who serves as first deputy head of Russia's GRU military intelligence service, was shot three times in his apartment building in Moscow Friday morning.

He's since undergone surgery and is expected to survive.

Russian authorities claim the apparent assassin was working for Ukrainian intelligence, a charge Kiev has denied in this case.

Since beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine has claimed responsibility for the assassination of several senior Russian officers, including in the Russian capital.

Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow.

Witkoff calls the two days of talks constructive, the most immediate outcome the release of some 300 soldiers and another prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine.

Witkoff also says the U.S.

and Russia have agreed to re-establish a military dialogue channel suspended following Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, with Witkoff calling it crucial to achieving and maintaining peace.

yet left unclear whether Russia and Ukraine are any closer to a deal either could accept.

Months of U.S.

diplomatic efforts have bogged down over Russia's maximalist demands on Ukrainian territory and Ukraine's desire for ironclad security guarantees from the West.

Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow.