MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/. The US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Milley and the chief of Russia’s General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, have discussed an incident between the Russian and American troops that was reported to take place in the northeast of Syria earlier this week, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.
"A telephone conversation was held at the level of the heads of the [US and Russian] Joint Chiefs of Staff," Peskov said when asked to comment how Moscow viewed the reported incident and whether it would pose a threat to the Russian-American interaction on the prevention of incidents in Syria.
US National Security Council Spokesman John Ullyott said in a statement on Wednesday that Russia breached de-confliction protocols following an incident in the northeast of Syria, where American military servicemen were reportedly injured on August 25 in a traffic incident involving Russian troops.
"At approximately 10 a.m. (Syria Time), August 25, a routine Defeat-ISIS Coalition security patrol encountered a Russian military patrol near Dayrick, in northeast Syria," Ullyott stated.
"During this interaction, a Russian vehicle struck a Coalition Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV) causing injuries to the vehicle’s crew. To de-escalate the situation, the Coalition patrol departed the area," Ullyott added.
DeDe Halfhill, a spokesperson for the US Joint Chief of Staff, said in a statement on Wednesday that US Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley held a telephone conversation with the chief of Russia’s General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, but the details of their conversation were not revealed.
Politico daily reported earlier in the week, citing its unnamed source in Pentagon, that four US military servicemen were diagnosed with "mild concussion-like symptoms" after a vehicle of Russian troops crashed into their patrol vehicle in the northeastern part of Syria.