On November 27, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General Valery Gerasimov, called Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Quinton Brown Jr., to inform him that Russia would conduct hypersonic missile test launches in the eastern Mediterranean and that US Navy ships should stay away from the area for safety reasons, ABC News quoted a US official as saying.
The Russian hypersonic missile test took place in the eastern Mediterranean, where the US Navy has three amphibious ships carrying 2,200 Marines as well as destroyers providing missile defense for 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 the area had launched hypersonic missiles at simulated targets in international waters in the eastern Mediterranean.
However, details of General Gerasimov's advance warning to General Brown have not been officially disclosed.
"The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General CQ Brown, Jr., spoke with the Chief of the Russian General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, by phone on November 27 at the request of the Russian Ministry of Defense," said General Brown's spokesman, 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 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 publicize the call."
During the conversation, the two sides also discussed how to avoid miscalculation and escalation between the two countries when it comes to Ukraine. The two sides discussed the US allowing Ukraine to use long-range ATACMS missiles against targets inside Russia, as well as Russia's subsequent firing of an intermediate-range hypersonic missile (IRBM) at a target inside Ukraine. Russia said the IRBM attack was in retaliation for Ukraine being allowed to use ATACMS missiles inside Russia.
The New York Times was the first to report the call between Mr. Brown and Mr. Gerasimov. Mr. Gerasimov’s warning about Russia’s planned hypersonic missile test had not been previously reported.
On December 3, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the frigates Admiral Gorshkov and Admiral Golovko "launched Zircon hypersonic missiles and the diesel-electric submarine Novorossiysk launched Kalibr cruise missiles at a simulated target at sea."
At the same time, from a designated area on the Mediterranean coast, a Bastion coastal missile crew launched an Onyx cruise missile. Although the launch site was not disclosed, the cruise missile is believed to have been launched from the Russian base in Tarsus, Syria, Moscow’s only overseas naval base.
The Russian Defense Ministry statement said: "The simulated targets were directly hit. The drills in the eastern Mediterranean were conducted in strict accordance with the existing norms of international law, as well as Russia's agreements with foreign states on preventing incidents at sea outside their territorial waters, as well as in the airspace of these states."
The Russian naval vessels have been moving to the eastern Mediterranean from their Arctic bases and the test comes as Russian military aircraft are flying in support of Syrian President Bashar al Assad after rebel forces seized Aleppo earlier this week.
