Article Index RUSSIA TURKIYE / SWEDEN / NATO NORTH KOREA ISRAEL / PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES IRAQ SYRIA IRAN NIGERIA AFGHANISTAN IRAN / CHINA / HOUTHIS / RED SEA INDIA EGYPT / ISRAEL / PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES NORTH KOREA RUSSIA 1:16 p.m. EST MR PATEL: Good afternoon, everybody. Happy Wednesday. I don’t have anything off the top, Matt, so — QUESTION: Really? Only Wednesday? MR PATEL: — feel free to kick us off. QUESTION: Okay. Well, I’ll just start off with something that I don’t think you’re going to be able to answer but I’ll ask anyway, because it is a topic of the day. This plane crash in Russia, what’s your understanding of what happened, if you have one? And do you have any way to independently verify or confirm how it went down, what was on it? MR PATEL: I don’t have any independent verification to offer on any of this at this time. I have seen the public reporting, and our hope is that relevant authorities investigate the reporting to establish the facts around what happened, but beyond that I don’t have any other comments to offer or perspective on this. QUESTION: Right. And who – and the relevant authorities in this case are Russian authorities? MR PATEL: Correct. QUESTION: And you’re – okay. So – and you’ll accept what their verdict is? MR PATEL: Matt — QUESTION: Because they seem to have already – I mean, the Russian ministry – Russian authorities already have said what happened. Are you saying that you don’t have any reason to doubt? MR PATEL: No, that’s not at all what I’m saying. I think what I would just say again, to take a step back, is that we don’t have any independent verification to offer on the public reporting that’s been out […]
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