The US military has set up a channel of direct communication with the Russian military to prevent “miscalculations” or “escalation” over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, a defense spokesman told The Hill on Thursday.
“The Ministry of Defense recently set up a line of deconflict with the Russian Ministry of Defense on March 1st to prevent miscalculations, military incidents and escalation,” the spokesman said.
They noted that the United States “retains a number of channels for discussing critical security issues with Russians during unforeseen or emergencies.”
The deconflict line was first reported by NBC News.
CNN later reported that the line was mainly an exchange of telephone numbers, one from the US European Command Operations Center in Stuttgart, Germany, and the other is expected by the Ministry of Defense in Moscow.
The United States and Russia are not in direct conflict with each other, but as US forces continue to infiltrate several of Ukraine’s NATO neighbors, there are fears of a possible close encounter or accident that could escalate.
Russian planes, for example, have flown near areas where thousands of US troops are stationed in Poland, Romania and the Baltic states.
The new deconflict line is of interest, as Pentagon officials have previously said they have not had any direct communication with Russia since the invasion began eight days ago.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
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Washington and Moscow have had a similar line of deconflict in Syria for years to keep each other informed of their operations. The two have been on separate missions in the country and have not been in conflict with each other.