In an attempt to ease the worst East-West tensions since the Cold War, on Thursday the head of Russia’s military general staff and NATO’s supreme allied commander held a rare face-to-face meeting.
U.S. Army General Curtis Scaparrotti and Russia's Chief of Staff, Valery Gerasimov met in Baku, Azerbaijan, less than a week after the United States, Britain and France staged missile strikes on Syria in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack by the forces of Russia president-ally Bashar al-Assad. In separate statements,
NATO and the Russian defense ministry said the meeting discussed military exercises and troop movements, as both sides accuse the other of risky deployments in the Baltic states and eastern Europe.
Scaparrotti and Gerasimov discussed “questions concerning NATO and Russian military activity in the European region”, the Russian defense ministry said. Meanwhile, NATO said the meeting "focused on issues related to military posture and exercises" - which Reuters translated as
defense parlance for how to avoid military accidents that might lead to war. “The two military leaders used the ... channel to foster predictability and transparency” NATO added.
The Russian side said the pair also talked about the seven-year-long civil war in Syria, where Moscow and the West back opposing sides, and combating Islamic militants.
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https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...e-face-meeting
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