Controversial Negotiations of the Russian Defense Minister with His Western Counterparts
The Russian Defense Minister has had phone negotiations with the defense ministers of the United States and the United Kingdom. Sergey Shoigu’s phone conversation with Lloyd Austin, the U.S. Defense Secretary, was their second round of talks in recent days, which has not yielded particularly favorable results for the Russians.
The U.S. stance has become firmer than before in light of recent events in Ukraine. Shoigu’s conversation with the British Defense Minister was conducted very seriously and directly by the British official, who rejected Shoigu’s claims about Western provocation and similar statements with frankness and even sarcasm.