(Washington) The American Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley, telephoned his Belarusian counterpart, General Viktor Goulevitch, on Thursday to prevent the possibility of “unfortunate incidents” when important maneuvers began military with Russia in Belarus, the Pentagon has announced.
Posted at 1:06 p.m.
This telephone conversation, the first between the two military officials, aimed in particular to reduce the risks of an incident “and to exchange perspectives on current European security”, specified the spokesman for the American staff, the Colonel Dave Butler, in a brief statement.
The two generals agreed to keep the details of their conversation private, he said.
Minsk confirmed the interview, noting that it was General Milley who called his Belarusian counterpart.
“Today, at the initiative of the American side, General Viktor Gulevitch, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus, had a telephone conversation with General Mark Milley, Joint Chief of Staff of the armed forces of the United States,” the Belarusian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
“During the telephone conversation, the two parties discussed security issues,” the very brief statement said.
The Russian and Belarusian armies launched major maneuvers in Belarus on Thursday, at the gates of Ukraine, which is at the center of extreme Russian-Western tensions and while intense diplomatic efforts continue to defuse the crisis.
On the eve of the drills, the Russian military released video showing a battery of S-400 anti-aircraft systems aiming their missiles skyward from snowy terrain in Belarus’ Brest region bordering Ukraine.
The armies of Minsk and Moscow did not specify the number of soldiers and equipment participating in these exercises, but Westerners claim that 30,000 Russian soldiers have been deployed in Belarus as part of this.
The deployment of these soldiers was immediately denounced by the Ukrainian presidency as a means of “psychological pressure” used by Moscow, which has also massed more than 100,000 soldiers since November near its own border with Ukraine.