The Russian Defense Ministry announced in a statement issued today, that, at the initiative of the Russian side, Chief of the General Staff General of the Army Valery Gerasimov and Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Q. Brown spoke by phone last week. “During the conversation, the American side was informed of exercises in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea by groups of forces of the Russian Navy and Russian Aerospace Forces with live fires and launches of precision missiles,” the Russian statement said. “This information was provided in order to prevent possible incidents due to presence of United States and NATO ships in the vicinity of the Russian exercise area.” As previously reported, the exercise ran Dec. 1-3 and included, among other weapons, the live firing of a Kinzhal hypersonic missile from a MiG-31 fighter aircraft.
Capt. J.D. Dorsey, spokesman for General Brown, confirmed the phone call to ABC News. “This was the first time the leaders spoke since General Brown became Chairman,” he said. “The leaders discussed a number of global and regional security issues to include the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. At the request of General Gerasimov, General Brown agreed to not proactively announce the call.”
An unnamed U.S. official told ABC that Brown and Gerasimov also discussed how to avoid a miscalculation and escalation between the two countries regarding Ukraine. Specifically, they discussed the U.S. allowing Ukraine to use ATACMS long-range missiles against targets inside Russia, as well as Russia’s subsequent test of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) on a target inside Ukraine. Russia said the IRBM strike was made in retaliation for Ukraine being allowed to use the ATACMS missiles inside of Russia. If true, it is particularly notable that a discussion between the two military chiefs on the new development—Russia’s deployment of the hypersonic Oreshnik missile—occurred.
ABC adds that the U.S. Navy has three amphibious ships carrying 2,200 Marines, as well as a number of guided missile destroyers, in the Eastern Mediterranean.
