Chief of the Pentagon and the Russian Minister of Defense Talk on Mutual Understanding

The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov had a phone conversation on Tuesday during which they talked about the value of open channels of communication.

Austin started the discussion, according to Pentagon spokesman Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder, and it was the first time Austin and his Russian counterpart had spoken over the phone since March 2023.