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Russia’s defense chief discusses security issues with US counterpart

Lloyd Austin tweeted that he also discussed with Sergey Shoigu the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border

MOSCOW, January 6. /TASS/. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu held phone talks with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to discuss the security issues, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.

"On January 6, 2022, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin held phone talks. Security issues of mutual interest were discussed," the ministry stressed.

In turn, Austin tweeted that he also discussed with Shoigu the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border. "This morning, I spoke with Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu. We discussed risk reduction near Ukraine’s borders," the US Secretary of Defense wrote.

The ministers’ talks took place against the background of preparations for the Russia-NATO Council meeting to be held on January 12 in Brussels. In addition, On January 10, Geneva is hosting Russian-US talks on security guarantees, on January 13 - at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna. On December 17, 2021 the Russian Foreign Ministry published the draft agreements between Moscow and Washington on security guarantees and the measures of ensuring the security of Russia and NATO member states. These drafts were submitted to Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried on December 15.

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