Russia’s top military officer gave his US counterpart advance notice of Mediterranean Sea drills

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia’s top military officer called his U.S. counterpart to give advance warning of Russia’s drills in the Mediterranean Sea. It’s rare contact amid high tensions between Moscow and Washington. The Russian Defense Ministry says Gen. Valery Gerasimov reached out to Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in late November to inform him about planned Russian naval exercise involving missile launches in eastern Mediterranean. The ministry said Thursday that “the information was delivered in order to prevent possible incidents in view of U.S. and NATO warships presence near the area of the Russian exercise.”