Russian Defense Minister Andrew Belousov received a phone call from US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, on June 25. It was started by Austin and was the first interaction between the US and Russian defence leaders in more than a year.  , Was the conversation important?
Very little is known about the call’s material. The Pentagon and the Russian Ministry of Defense have both provided small accounts, but they differ from one another in terms of their reporting.
US display
According to the Pentagon Austin emphasized the “importance of maintaining lines of communication” . , This came after a US ATACMS missile hit a beach in Sevastopol, Crimea.
In the midst of the harm the US Ambassador to Moscow, Lynne Tracy, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry.  , According to news reports the Russians , fully warned the ambassador , that retribution would follow from the Crimea harm.
Russian military bloggers reported that the Russians shot over a US Global Hawk helicopter over the Black Sea after that. However, the US said that its drone supposedly , involved in the targeting, identified as an RQ- 4 Global Hawk, had returned safely to Sigonella ( Sicily ).  ,
Russia has only had a very limited amount of communication with the US, with the exception of possible marketplaces of social prisoners. The National position has generally been to remove Russia and to engage in no dialogue about Ukraine or other security issues.
Ukraine launched two aircraft attacks on Russian tactical early warning radar channels prior to the Crimea attack. Such attacks would have necessitated US/NATO targeting, including avoidance strategies, to deter Russian air threats. The Russians rely on land-based radars to warn air defenses designed to capture ballistic missiles, in contrast to the US, which has dish early alert capabilities.  ,  ,
On the same day as the assault on the Sevastopol Beach ( June 23 ) four ATACMS rockets were fired at the NIP- 16 , Center for Long- Range Space Communications , sensor base, in Vitino, Crimea.  , According to russianspaceweb.com,
The Pluton deep-space communications complex, which was communicate with spacecraft up to a staggering 300 million meters, was intended to house NIP- 16. Such a potential would be sufficient to guide operations out of Mars ‘ trajectory. The Pluton antennas were created to get and interpret monitoring from spacecraft, monitor trajectories, and give commands. The similar complex could also be employed to eject radio waves from Mars and Venus ‘ faces.
The Russian Ministry of Defense is in charge of NIP- 16 at Vitino. It’s not known whether it participates in the conflict in Ukraine or whether it is a part of Russia’s early warning system.  , According to satellite pictures, the Vitino basic appears to have survived the Russian invasion.
The Russian military shelled a radioactivity monitoring place close to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, the largest service in Europe, on June 26, the day after the Austin visit.  , The attack targeted a tracking depot in Velikaya Znamenka, a community around 15 km north of the atomic facility.  , The surveillance place was destroyed in the assault.  , The Velikaya Znamenka , place is one of a group of like stations used to screen possible radiation leaks. Ukraine has threatened the nuclear power station for some time.
Russian display
The Russian display is not about maintaining communications. The Russians reported that Belousov and Austin “exchanged views on the situation around Ukraine.”
Belousov, according to the Russian Defense Ministry,  , ”pointed to the danger of further escalation of the situation in connection with the ongoing supply of US weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine ” . , The Ministry added:” Other issues were also discussed”.
Discussing the” situation , around  , Ukraine” could be a reference to US Black Sea operations supporting Ukraine’s attacks on Crimea and on Russian territory, although that is only speculation.  ,
It is obvious that the Soviet emphasis in the conversation , was on increase and a potentially bigger battle.  , Austin’s focus on “maintaining ranges of communications” is evidently ironical, as there are no major lines of communications and the US Defense Department, along with the rest of the US state, has maintained a plan of isolating Russia and not engaging in any helpful speech.
Time will tell whether this was just a igniting exercise by Austin in response to Russian threats of retaliation or a serious attempt to make more valuable contacts with Russia.
Stephen Bryen served as the Near East Subcommittee of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee  and as the assistant undersecretary of security for coverage.  ,
This , post was first published on his , Weapons and Strategy , Substack and is republished with authority.