In early January, Valery Gerasimov and Joseph Dunford held phone negotiations

MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed that Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov and US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford will meet in Vienna on Monday.

"Chief of General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and First Deputy Defense Minister Army General Valery Gerasimov and US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford will meet in Vienna (Austria) today," the ministry told journalists.

The Russian side did not disclose the agenda, but on Sunday Joint Staff Spokesperson Patrick Ryder reported that there are plans to discuss the deconfliction between the forces of the international coalition and Russia when carrying out operations in Syria, the state of relations between the US and Russia in the military sphere, European security issues and other key issues.

On January 4, Gerasimov and Dunford held telephone negotiations. They discussed issues of mutual interests in Syria, but decided not to disclose the details of their conversation. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that during the negotiations the sides shared their positions on the situation in Syria and the fight against terrorism.