Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and war crimes, on Thursday asked Russia's Vladimir Putin to protect his country from the United States. Speaking during his first visit to Russia as president, Bashir also said he wanted to ramp up military ties and praised Moscow's military campaign in Syria.

"We have been dreaming about this visit for a long time," the Sudanese president told Putin at the Black Sea resort of Sochi. "We are thankful to Russia for its position on the international arena, including Russia's position in the protection of Sudan. We are in need of protection from the aggressive acts of the United States."

The Sudanese leader praised his earlier meeting with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. "We are currently launching a programme to modernise our armed forces and we agreed with the defence minister that Russia will contribute to this," Bashir said.

Putin said that Russia was keen to intensify economic ties including in agriculture and energy. "There are prospects not only in the hydrocarbon sphere but also in energy," Putin said. "There are many prospects of cooperation."

The visit came a month after the United States lifted a trade embargo it imposed on the impoverished African state in 1997 over Khartoum's alleged backing of Islamist militant groups. US President Donald Trump also removed Sudan from a list of countries facing a US travel ban.

Sudan's deadly conflict in Darfur broke out in 2003 when ethnic minority groups took up arms against Bashir's Arab-dominated government, which launched a brutal counter-insurgency. The UN says at least 300,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million displaced as a result of the conflict.

Top Sudanese officials including Bashir now claim that the conflict has ended, but the region continues to see regular fighting between numerous ethnic and tribal groups. Bashir is wanted by the ICC for genocide and war crimes related to the conflict, charges he denies.

A statement issued by the office of the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that the talks between the two sides will include ways to bolster the bilateral relations and the cooperation between Sudan and Russia in the political, economic and military fields as well as the current regional and international developments and means to strengthen the cooperation at the level of international organizations.

The statement stated that President Al-Bashir will meet in Moscow on November 24 with the Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, to discuss ways of consolidating the bilateral relations, especially in the economic, peaceful use of nuclear power, increasing the commercial exchange balance and encouraging the investment, especially with regard to opening the Russian market for the Sudanese agricultural products and attraction of the Russian companies to operate in the fields of mining, transport, power and infrastructures in Sudan.

The Foreign Ministry's statement announced that the President of the Republic will witness with the Russian Prime Minister the signing of a number of cooperation agreements and contracts with a number of Russian companies for exploration of gold and oil at new blocks in Sudan.

The President of the Republic will be accompanied during his visit to Russia with a number of ministers and senior officials.

The statement has affirmed Sudan appreciation of the progressing relations with the Republic of Russia and regard the visit of President Al-Bashir to Russia as a qualitative progress in the bilateral relations toward boosting the mutual political understanding and the economic partnerships and reviewing the common international and regional issues, including establishment of a just world system for realizing international security and peace.