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Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu spoke with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Friday after months of refusing direct contact with his US counterpart.
But officials said the call did not appear to signal any change in Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
A senior Defense Department official said Friday that while Austin believes the one-hour conversation was important in trying to keep the lines of communication open, it did not resolve any “acute issues” or lead to any change in what the Russians did. are doing until the war enters the 12th week.
The call – initiated by Austin – marked the highest-level US contact with a Russian official since the start of the war in late February.
Over the past few months, Pentagon officials have repeatedly said that Russian leaders refused to accept calls from Austin.
This is the first conversation between Austin and Shoygu since February 18, a week before the start of the war. Another senior official said Friday that Milley is also expected to contact his counterpart, General Valery Gerasimov, the Russian chief of staff.
In a statement, the Pentagon said Austin “demanded an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and stressed the importance of maintaining communication lines.”
Some officials described the call as a positive step, but said there was no clear reason why the Russians decided to continue the conversation on Friday.
The defense official said the U.S. hopes this will serve as a springboard for future talks and that it appeared Austin’s request for future communications was accepted.
The official described the call as “professional”, but gave no further details on its content.
The United States and other Western officials have described Russia’s war in Ukraine, particularly its attempt to gain more control over the eastern Donbas region, as more than two weeks behind schedule and a failure to make steady progress.
On Friday, Russian forces suffered heavy casualties in a Ukrainian attack that destroyed a pontoon bridge they were using to cross a river east, in what Ukrainian, British and American officials said was another sign of Moscow’s fight for save a badly gone war.
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