Russia’s top general called America’s top general last week, in a previously undisclosed interview, to warn the U.S. that Russia would test launch hypersonic missiles in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and the U.S. the army the ships should move away from the target area for security reasons, according to a US official.
General Valery Gerasimov began the call last Wednesday to give that warning to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff CQ Brown and to discuss Ukraine and how to avoid a miscalculation between the US and Russia in that ongoing conflict.
An aerial view shows the Russian Navy frigate Admiral Golovko during military exercises in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, in this video still image released on Dec. 3, 2024.
Russian Defense Minister via Reuters
The Russian hypersonic missile test took place in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, an area where the US Navy has three amphibious ships with 2,200 marines and destroyers that provide missile defense to Israel.
The call between the two top military leaders was not made public until Wednesday, when the Russian Defense Ministry said Russian warships had fired hypersonic missiles at an undisclosed target area in the body of water’s international waters.
However, the details of Gerasimov’s head-to-head warning to Brown were not officially disclosed.
“Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff CQ Brown, Jr. spoke with Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov on November 27 at the request of the Russian Ministry of Defense,” Brown’s spokesman Capt. JD Dorsey said. he said in a statement to ABC News.
“It was the first time the leaders had spoken since General Brown became president. The leaders discussed a range of global and regional security issues including the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. At General Gerasimov’s request, General Brown agreed not to proactively announce the call.”
In this Dec. 21, 2022, file photo, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov attends an extensive meeting of the Council of the Russian Defense Ministry at the National Defense Control Center in Moscow.
Sergey Fadeichev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
During the conversation, Brown and Gerasimov also discussed miscalculations and how to avoid escalation between the two countries regarding Ukraine, a US official said.
Specifically, they talked about the US allowing Ukraine to use long-range ATACMS missiles against targets inside Russia, as well as after Russia’s test of a Russian Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (IRBM) at a target inside Ukraine. Russia said the IRBM attack was in retaliation for allowing Ukraine to use ATACMS missiles inside Russia.
The New York Times first reported the call between Brown and Gerasimov. Gerasimov’s warning about Russia’s planned hypersonic missile test has not been previously reported.
On Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Admiral frigates Gorshkov and Golovko “launched hypersonic Zircon missiles, and the diesel-electric submarine Novorossiysk fired a Kalibr cruise missile at a naval target position.”
This photo taken from a video released by the Press Service of the Russian Ministry of Defense on December 3, 2024 shows the Russian Navy frigate Admiral Gorshkov during a training exercise in the Mediterranean Sea.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP
“At the same time, from a designated area on the Mediterranean coast, a crew of the Bastion coastal missile system launched an Onyx cruise missile,” the statement said. Although the launch point was not disclosed, the cruise missile was allegedly fired from Russia’s base in Tarsus, Syria, its only overseas naval base.
“They hit the designated targets with direct hits,” the statement said.
“The exercise in the Eastern Mediterranean is being carried out in compliance with the current rules of international law, as well as the agreements made by the Russian Federation with foreign states to prevent incidents at sea outside territorial waters, as well as in the airspace above them,” he added.
Russian warships made their way to the Eastern Mediterranean from bases in the Arctic and the test came as Russian military aircraft are supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who earlier this week seized Aleppo from rebels.
