Top US general Martin Dempsey on Thursday met with his Russian counterpart, giving him the red carpet treatment despite diplomatic tensions over Syria between Washington and Moscow.
Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hosted a full honour cordon for Nikolai Makarov, chief of the Russian General Staff and the country's first deputy defence minister, during which 19 salutes were fired in a rare show of pomp by the Pentagon.
The meeting between the officials and their delegations comes as Russia rejected as unacceptable the text of a Western-backed UN Security Council resolution on Syria, announcing it will use its veto if the draft is brought to a vote later Thursday.
Talks at the Pentagon are expected to focus on plans for a Nato-backed missile defence shield in Europe, a military source said.