21 Mar 2014 09:09

Russian defense minister and U.S. defense secretary discuss ways to ease Ukraine tensions

MOSCOW. March 21 (Interfax) - Russian Defense Minister General Sergei Shoigu held a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel at Washington's initiative.

A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman told Interfax that the sides had exchanged opinions on the situation in Crimea and Ukraine and had discussed possible ways to deescalate tensions in the region as a whole.

Shoigu, for his part, informed Hagel of Russia's vision on the situation on the Crimean peninsula in light of today's new realities there.