Pentagon spokesman John Kirby believes the phone conversation between the two countries’ chiefs of general staff was related to allegations of some “movements of Russian forces”
According to TASS, a US defence official issued a statement at a briefing on Wednesday saying that the phone conversation between the US and Russian chiefs of staff was linked to allegations by the Ukrainian military about some kind of movement of Russian forces, the US side tried to get more information.
“As I said, one of the reasons we reached out to Russia is that we tried to get a little more clarity as to what exactly was going on. I’m just not prepared right now to provide more details about these discussions that have just begun”, – John Kirby said, without specifying whether the US military considers the Ukrainian allegations credible, only noting that the US is also discussing the issue with NATO allies.
Earlier, the defence official was asked to comment on reports that the US chairman of the Committee of Chiefs of Staff (CCO), General Mark Milley, spoke by phone with the head of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, First Deputy Defense Minister of Russia, Army General Valeriy Gerasimov, and with the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU), Ruslan Khomchak. In this connection, Kirby said that the USA was “aware of the Ukrainian military’s reports about the movement of Russian troops on the borders of Ukraine”. The Pentagon spokesman noted that the sides may have touched on “this issue and these concerns” during the conversation in particular.
The Russian Defence Ministry told reporters on Wednesday that the telephone talks between Gerasimov and Milli took place at the initiative of the US side.
“Issues of mutual interest were discussed”, – the Russian military said.