Illustrative image (Photo: Reuters)

The Department of Defense established a "de-confliction" line with the Russian Ministry of Defense on Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesperson said, adding that the US has a number of channels for discussing critical security issues with the Russians during an emergency.

CNN later reported that the line is basically an exchange of phone numbers, one at the US European Command’s operations center in Stuttgart, Germany, and the other expected to be at the Ministry of Defense in Moscow.