The head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Serhii Naryshkin, claims that at the end of June he spoke by phone with his American colleague, CIA director William Burns, on the topic of “what to do with Ukraine,” TASS reported on Wednesday. , taken from Reuters and Agerpres.

The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported last month that Burns had called Narashkin to assure the Kremlin that the United States was in no way involved in the June 24 mutiny of the Wagner Company mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin.

When asked about this topic on Wednesday, Naryshkin answered that “yes, indeed, the conversation took place at the end of last month.”

“The reason for the phone conversation, as I estimate, from an American colleague was the events of June 24. It is clear how we answered the question about what happened,” said the head of Russian intelligence.

“It seems to me that it was rather an excuse, because the main part of the conversation was focused on discussing the topic and events in Ukraine. We also thought about what to do with Ukraine,” he added.

According to the director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, the conversation lasted “about an hour.”

The head of the CIA visited Ukraine before speaking with Naryshkin on the phone

The two intelligence chiefs have been in touch since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, while other direct contacts between Moscow and Washington are minimal and bilateral relations are at their worst state since the 1962 Soviet Cuban Missile Crisis.

TASS quotes the words of Naryshkin about the possibility of meeting Burns again in person. Their last publicly known meeting took place last November in Turkey.

Several US officials said at the time that the CIA director warned Moscow about the consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and raised the issue of American prisoners in Russia.

Earlier this month, American media reported that Burns had made a secret visit to Kyiv before the uprising by Wagner’s mercenaries to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and other senior officials in the country’s leadership.

According to The Washington Post, which first reported on the trip, Ukrainian leaders presented plans to return territories occupied by Russian forces and begin ceasefire negotiations by the end of the year.

A US representative told AFP that Burns “went to Ukraine, as he has done regularly since the beginning of Russia’s recent aggression more than a year ago.”

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