On November 27, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General Valery Gerasimov, called the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Quinton Brown Jr. to announce that Russia will conduct hypersonic missile test launches in the eastern Mediterranean and US Navy ships should stay away from this area for safety reasons - ABC News quoted a US official as saying.
The Russian hypersonic missile test took place in the eastern Mediterranean, where three US Navy ships made landfall carrying 2,200 marines as well as destroyers providing missile defense to Israel.
The call between the two top military leaders was kept secret until December 4, a day after the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Russian warships in that area had launched hypersonic missiles at simulated targets in international waters in the eastern Mediterranean.
However, details of General Gerasimov's warning to General Brown have not been officially disclosed.
"Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General CQ Brown, Jr., spoke by phone with the Russian Chief of Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, on November 27 at the request of the Russian Ministry of Defense," said a spokesperson for General Brown, Captain JD Dorsey.
"This is the first time the two generals have spoken since General Brown became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The two sides discussed a number of global and regional security issues, including the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. At General Gerasimov's request, General Brown agreed not to proactively declare a call."
During the conversation, the two sides also discussed how to avoid miscalculation and escalation between the two countries when talking about Ukraine. The two sides discussed the US's permission to use long-range ATACMS missiles against targets inside Russia, as well as Russia's subsequent inter-range hypersonic missile (IRBM) firing at a target inside Ukraine. Russia said the IRBM attack was in retaliation for Ukraine's permission to use ATACMS missiles inside Russia.
The New York Times was the first to report the call between Brown and Gerasimov. Gerasimov's warning about Russia's planned hypersonic missile test had not been previously reported.
On December 3, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Admiral Gorshkov and Admiral Golovko "launched Zircon hypersonic missiles and the diesel-electric Submarine Novorossiysk launched kalibr cruise missiles at simulated sea targets".
At the same time, from a designated area on the Mediterranean coast, the Bastion coastal missile operator launched an Onyx cruise missile. Although the launch site was not disclosed, the cruise missile is believed to have been launched from Russia's base in Tarsus, Syria, Moscow's only overseas naval base.
The Russian Defense Ministry statement said: "The simulated targets were directly attacked. The exercise in the eastern Mediterranean was conducted in accordance with the current norms of international law, as well as Russia's agreements with foreign countries on preventing incidents at sea outside their territorial waters, as well as in the airspace of these countries".
Russian naval vessels have moved to the eastern Mediterranean from their Arctic bases and the test comes as Russian military aircraft are providing support to Syrian President Bashar al Assad after rebels seized Aleppo earlier this week.
