WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that he spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday regarding the destruction of a US drone over the Black Sea, which had brought the two sides closest to direct confrontation since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago. It was the first contact between the US and Russian Defense chiefs since October.
US-Russia Discuss Drone Crash
The US top defense official said at a Pentagon press briefing. “I just got off the telephone with Russian defense minister Shoigu”. He added, “As I have said repeatedly, it is significant that major powers be models of communication and transparency, and the US will continue to fly wherever international law permits.”
The US military officials said it abandoned the Air Force MQ-9 Reaper in the sea following a Russian jet hit its screw while it was flying in international airspace. Moscow has denied that it caused the accident. Washington said it was working on declassifying footage from the drone that would show Tuesday’s accident.
That Shoigu and Austin were talking underlined the seriousness of the matter. Since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, contacts between Russians and the US top military officials have been limited, with Russian military officials denying to take US military officials’ calls in the early months of the war in Ukraine.
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said that he also planned to hold talks to Russian chief of the General Staff General Valery Gerasimov. The US and Russian defense ministers first spoke about the war in Ukraine in May 2022 while the two top officials also spoke twice in October.
