Pentagon believes that the only positive result of a telephone conversation between the US and the Russian defense ministers was that two countries manage to maintain contact against the background of war in Ukraine, writes Voice of America.
Although the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin believes that his telephone conversation with the Minister of Defense of Russia Sergei Shoigu was important in terms of maintaining communication channels open, she did not help resolve any acute issues regarding the further development of the war in Ukraine. The Associated Press agency on anonymity was announced by a senior representative of the US Ministry of Defense.
The Pentagon considers it as progress the very fact that representatives of the Russian military command in general agreed to a telephone conversation, which lasted about an hour after the Russian side abandoned direct contacts between the entire period of time since the beginning of the time of the invasion of Ukraine. Defense Ministers of the two powers.
The conversation of the ministers Austin and Shoigu was the first conversation for all this time, moreover, which was also the most senior, today, representatives of the governments of the United States and the Russian Federation. The last time the heads of defense departments communicated directly on February 18, even before the invasion.
“Austin called for the immediate cessation of fire in Ukraine and emphasized the importance of maintaining communication lines,” the Pentagon statement said.
In the message of the Russian Ministry of Defense, it is claimed that the conversation took place on the initiative of the American side. “Topical issues of international security, including the situation in Ukraine, have been discussed,” the Russian department briefly said.