Lines of communication between top US Defense Department officials and their Russian counterparts have gone dark since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine last month, placing the world’s two nuclear superpowers in jeopardy of mischaracterising each other’s troop movements and drilling with potentially disastrous consequences.
According to the Washington Post, both General Mark Milley — the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have repeatedly tried arranging conversations with their opposite numbers in Moscow, General Valery Gerasimov and defence minister Sergei Shoigu.
