Security

After the Mini-Cold War, a Mini-Detente?

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is in Helsinki to meet with his opposite number from Russia, Gen. Nikolai Makarov. It’s the first high-level sitdown with the Russians since the crisis in Georgia — and the first time the pair had spoken in their roles as their countries’ top officers. The […]

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Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is in Helsinki to meet with his opposite number from Russia, Gen. Nikolai Makarov. It's the first high-level sitdown with the Russians since the crisis in Georgia -- and the first time the pair had spoken in their roles as their countries' top officers.

The New York Times' Thom Shanker reports:

*The meeting was arranged with great secrecy... The two spoke by telephone multiple times during the brief war in August between Russia and Georgia over two breakaway provinces, which worsened relations between Moscow and Washington. *

American military officers said Tuesday’s session in Helsinki, a city with a rich legacy of hosting numerous Cold War-era negotiations, came at the request of the Russians.

Meanwhile, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is pressing his own charm offensive in an interview with New York Times Magazine chief interrogator Deborah Solomon.