(Moscow) Russian Defense Minister Andrei Beloussov and American Defense Minister Lloyd Austin discussed the situation in Ukraine on Tuesday during a telephone conversation, the Russian ministry announced.
Mr. Beloussov “highlighted the risk of a further escalation of the situation related to the supply of American weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces,” the ministry said in a statement.
The call was made at the initiative of the United States, he said.
The Pentagon also reported this conversation between the two men, the first since the appointment of Mr. Beloussov on May 12.
Mr. Austin “stressed the importance of maintaining lines of communication in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine,” said US department spokesperson General Pat Ryder.
Russia considers that Washington has become a party to the conflict in Ukraine by authorizing Kyiv to use long-range missiles against Russian regions and Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014.
On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov threatened the United States with “consequences,” and Russian diplomacy summoned the American ambassador to Moscow, Lynne Tracy, to warn her that “such actions by Washington, […] authorizing strikes inside Russian territory, will not go unpunished.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, threatened to deliver equivalent weapons to enemies of the West so that they could attack their interests in other regions of the world.
