US, Russia defense chiefs speak as tensions rise over Crimea attack
The US and Russian defense chiefs spoke by telephone on Tuesday in rare communication between the two powers and with tensions rising after Moscow blamed Washington for a deadly Ukraine attack over the weekend on the Russian-annexed Crimea.
The two sides gave widely divergent accounts of the conversation - the first one between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Russia's new Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, who replaced Sergei Shoigu in May.
The Pentagon said Austin and Belousov discussed the importance of open lines of communication.
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