Why did Belousov phone Austin on 13 July? It’s now official: to prevent a Ukrainian assassination attempt against himself and Putin

In mid-July major Western media reported a phone conversation had taken place between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov at the initiative of the Russian side. But there was no information about the content of their talk other than to say that it was to forestall an attack that might result in uncontrollable escalation of the conflict between the two countries.