Information about direct communication channel between Pentagon and Russian Defence Ministry on Ukraine might be fake

Baku/04.03.22/Turan: The Pentagon, amid hostilities in Ukraine, has set up a communication channel with the Russian Defence Ministry since March 1 to prevent military incidents, RIA Novosti reported, citing a US defence official.

"The US Department of Defence recently established a communication channel with the Russian Defence Ministry on March 1 to prevent miscalculation, military incidents and escalation," a Pentagon official told the agency.

He added that the US still maintains a number of communication channels with Russia "to discuss critical security issues in case of a contingency or emergency."

Several publications had previously reported that the Pentagon wanted to establish a channel of communication with Russia against the backdrop of the situation in Ukraine, similar to the one established on Syria in 2015."

Turan news agency decided to double-check the information. The links to sources cited by RIA Novosti were not confirmed. In one case, the link goes to the Reuters website, but not to the information about the Pentagon and Russian Defence Ministry's communications channel on Ukraine.

Two questionable sources were found: usfreenews.com and peoplenetv.com, where information published by RIA Novosti was posted on behalf of Ivan Maltsev.

There is no such information on the Pentagon's website, nor on the websites of reputable publications.-0-