FALCON POWERS – The US and Russian Defense Ministers held a phone call on Tuesday, the first such conversation in over a year, with the two sides providing vastly different accounts of the discussion.
The US Department of Defense (Pentagon) said that Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu discussed the importance of maintaining open lines of communication. Pentagon spokesman Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder told reporters that Austin initiated the call, which was the first of its kind since March 2023.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that Shoigu warned Austin of the risks of continued US arms supplies to Ukraine.
In a statement via the Telegram app, the ministry said “Shoigu pointed to the danger of further escalation of the situation due to the ongoing supplies of US weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces.”
