Chuck Hagel, the Secretary of Defense of the United States and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu participated in a joint video conference call in mid-December. The two officials addressed such important topics as missile defense, the situation in Syria, cybersecurity, as well as fighting against improvised explosives.

According to the American Defense Secretary, the Joint Action Plan for Iran that the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany reached in Geneva is not by itself a reason for the United States and its NATO allies to scrap their missile defense initiative. Additionally, the Pentagon chief stated that the missile defense initiative presented no danger to Russia. The U.S. Defense Secretary agreed to continue the discussions on missile defense plans in Europe with his Russian colleague.

The Russian and the American defense officials agreed to organize this teleconference in August of 2013 during the two-plus-two sessions of foreign affairs and defense department personnel.