Neither Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin nor Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have spoken to their Russian counterparts since their invasion of Ukraine, six weeks ago.
Austin affirmed that the two Pentagon leaders have “frequently” reached out to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov but have been unsuccessful. Austin made this disclosure during his and Milley’s testimony in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday morning.
“Both the chairman and I myself have frequently reached out to our counterparts in Russia to try to ensure that we maintain a dialogue. That’s in the last — since mid-February,” he explained. “That’s not been very successful because the Russians have not responded.”
Despite being “disappointed” by the lack of Russian engagement with him and Milley, the secretary said, “It doesn’t mean we’ll stop reaching out to engage them. I think we have to have the ability to talk to the leadership.”
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Comparatively, Austin and Milley have regularly communicated with their Ukrainian counterparts. The secretary spoke with Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov on Monday, and he said during the briefing that they plan on speaking later on Thursday.
The Biden administration has repeatedly stressed the importance of avoiding a possible escalation in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine through its own actions and support for Ukraine, including through the creation of a de-confliction line. The United States checks the line “once or twice a day … just to make sure when we pick it up, the Russians are answering, so far they are,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said late last month.
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The Defense Department also postponed and later canceled the Minuteman III missile test to avoid perceived escalation from Russia’s perspective, and it has declined to fulfill certain Ukrainian military requests, such as for a no-fly zone, over such concerns.
