The Oreshnik attack was planned before authorization for long-range strikes, Gerasimov reportedly told the US military chief

Russian Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian army’s general staff, had a rare telephone conversation on Nov. 27 with U.S. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the New York Times reported on Dec. 4.

The conversation took place just six days after Russia launched a new medium-range ballistic missile, the Oreshnik, from the Dnipro in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the attack was a response to Ukraine’s use of American and British weapons to attack deeper into Russia.

During the call, Gerasimov told Brown that the missile launch had been planned long before the United States authorized Ukraine to use ATACMS missiles for deeper attacks on Russian territory, unnamed official sources told The New York Times.

Capt. Jereal Dorsey, a spokesman for Brown, confirmed the call, noting that it was made at Gerasimov’s request and that Brown had agreed not to proactively announce it.

The November 21 Oreshnik missile attack on Dnipro sparked a media storm in Russia. The Moscow Times described it on December 3 as a carefully orchestrated attempt to intimidate Western allies.

Four official Russian sources reportedly said the attack was intended primarily as a show of force rather than an escalation.

This undermines Putin’s later threats to use the Oreshnik missile against “decision centers” in Kiev, which appear increasingly aimed at sowing fear rather than signaling immediate action.

Nearly 40% of Russians believe a nuclear attack on Ukraine is justified, a Russian sociologist says

Vladimir Putin’s talk of a possible nuclear strike “is gradually leading to an increase in the proportion of (Russians) who consider it acceptable, even morally justified,” said Russian sociologist Alexey Levinson.