CIA director meets in Turkey with his Russian counterpart

CIA Director Bill Burns met Monday in Ankara, Turkey, with his FSI counterpart, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, as part of an ongoing effort by Washington to maintain communication to secure the release. of US citizens detained in Russia and have a clear idea about the opinions on the conflicts between the two countries, the spokesman for the National Security Council confirmed to CNN.

“We have never hidden the fact that we have channels to communicate with Russia on risk management, especially nuclear risk and risks to strategic stability,” the spokesman said. “As part of this effort, Bill Burns is in Ankara today to meet with his Russian intelligence counterpart.”

Last week it emerged that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had also contacted his Russian counterparts to warn them of the consequences of Russia using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine. But the spokesman for the National Security Council stressed that Burns “is not conducting negotiations of any kind.”

“He is not discussing the settlement of the war in Ukraine. He is delivering a message about the consequences of Russia’s use of nuclear weapons and the risks of an escalation to strategic stability. He will also raise the cases of wrongfully detained American citizens.”

The spokesman added that the United States informed Ukraine about the meeting before Burns’ trip. “We firmly stick to our fundamental principle: nothing on Ukraine without Ukraine,” the spokesman said.

In turn, the Kremlin spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, confirmed on Monday that the meeting took place, according to TASS, the Russian state news agency. “Those negotiations took place. They happened at the initiative of the American side,” Peskov said.

Over the past year, the Biden administration has sent Burns several times to hold talks with the Russians, using the veteran diplomat and former US ambassador to Moscow as a key go-between as relations between the two countries have continued to deteriorate following the Russian invasion. to Ukraine last February.

Burns was first sent to Moscow in November 2021, before Russia invaded Ukraine, to warn the Kremlin of the consequences. He also participated in discussions with Naryshkin about American citizens detained in Russia, including athlete Brittney Griner and businessman Paul Whelan.

The discussions are also part of an ongoing effort by Washington to keep lines of communication open with Moscow amid thinly veiled threats from the Russian president that his country could use the nuclear weapon in Ukraine.

“In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all available weapons systems,” Putin warned in a speech in September.

Later he seemed to back off. He said in October: “We don’t see the need” for nuclear weapons in Ukraine. “That makes no sense, neither political nor military.”