WASHINGTON, March 18. /TASS/. The Pentagon is open to maintaining communication channels with the Russian military to prevent escalation and accidental clashes, said Daniel Zimmermann, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs.

"The Department is open to fostering mil-mil dialogues with the Russian Federation, including in support of State Department-led talks in the wake of New START’s expiration and the high-level mil-mil dialogue announced last month by [Commander-in-Chief of the NATO Combined Armed Forces in Europe] General [Alexus] Grynkewich," Zimmerman said in a written statement for hearings in the House of Representatives.

He said that the US remains interested in strategic stability and maintaining channels for military deconfliction and de-escalation with Russia, which have for decades reduced the chances of miscalculation between the militaries.