The Director of Russia’s International Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, informed Russian state media on June 29 that he had agreed to stay in open contact with Central Intelligence Company (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe, following a latest cellphone name between the 2.
"I had a cellphone name with my American counterpart, and we reserved for one another the likelihood to name one another at any time and talk about problems with curiosity to us," Naryshkin mentioned. He didn’t specify when the dialog occurred, and Ratcliffe has not publicly confirmed the decision.
Russian state media claimed the final recognized alternate between the 2 intelligence chiefs occurred in March.
The remarks come amid broader efforts by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to normalize relations between Washington and Moscow. Throughout a cellphone name on Feb. 12, Presidents Trump and Vladimir Putin agreed to reset U.S.-Russia ties and revive dialogue on "matters of mutual curiosity," together with a possible decision to the battle in Ukraine.
That decision was adopted by the primary spherical of bilateral talks, held on Feb. 18 in Saudi Arabia—the primary official assembly between U.S. and Russian officers in over three years. Each side pledged to start restoring diplomatic relations and to nominate senior groups tasked with negotiating a Ukraine peace settlement.
Regardless of these efforts, progress on peace has been restricted.
Two earlier rounds of talks between Moscow and Kyiv in Istanbul failed to supply a ceasefire. On June 5, Trump declined to say when or if additional sanctions on Russia is perhaps imposed, stating solely that there’s a deadline “in (his) mind.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later informed Politico that Trump would resist European strain to toughen sanctions, arguing that doing so might jeopardize the delicate window for negotiations with the Kremlin.
The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek