U.S. Denies Russian Claim Dialogue Between Two Nations ‘Frozen’

A bizarre diplomatic disagreement erupted Wednesday when the Kremlin insisted that relations between Russia and the U.S. had all but ceased, prompting Washington to provide evidence rebutting that assertion.

“Almost every level of dialogue with the United States is frozen,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told a state-sponsored news agency. “We don’t communicate with one another, or (if we do), we do so minimally.”

Officials at the U.S. State and Defense departments quickly refuted that notion by releasing information about recent, high-level contacts between the two governments.

Watch Cynthia McFadden on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt for More

“Dialogue has not been broken,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters, noting that Secretary of State John Kerry spoke on the phone Tuesday with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov after a meeting on Syria in Moscow.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, issued a statement about a video conference between Russian and U.S. defense officials to discuss de-conflicting military flights on Syria.

 

Read More: U.S. Denies Russian Claim Dialogue Between Two Nations ‘Frozen’ – NBC News