- Gordon Corera and Oliver Slough
- BBC news
CIA Director William Burns served as US Ambassador to Russia between 2005 and 2008
The directors of intelligence agencies in Russia and the United States held a face-to-face meeting to discuss Russia’s nuclear threats and the issue of American prisoners “unjustly” held in Russia, according to the White House.
The meeting took place on Monday in the Turkish capital Ankara between the director of the CIA, William Burns, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Naryshkin.
The Kremlin announced that the talks were held “at the initiative of the American side”. It is the highest official meeting between the two countries since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The White House said that “Burns, who served as US ambassador to Russia between 2005 and 2008 and speaks Russian, has not discussed ending the war with his counterpart.”
And it was announced in a statement that Burns carried a message regarding “the implications of Russia’s use of nuclear weapons” and the danger of “strategic destabilization.”
The United States has warned Moscow in recent months against using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, amid suggestions from the Kremlin that it might.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of trying to destroy Russia, stressing that it would use all “available means” to protect Russian lands, which was seen as a veiled threat to the use of nuclear weapons.
The United States has said it takes the threats seriously.
A spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – who has served as the main mediator between Russia and Western countries since the invasion began in February – confirmed the meeting between Burns and Russia’s foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin.
The White House emphasized that Burns had not “engaged in any negotiations of any kind” and said in its statement that Washington “will stand firmly on our basic principle: nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
This step comes in conjunction with a meeting held by US President Joe Biden with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, before the start of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.
The White House statement said the two sides affirmed their “opposition to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.” According to a statement released by China’s foreign ministry, the Chinese president told Biden that nuclear weapons should not be used and nuclear wars cannot be waged.
The White House statement indicated that during the US-Russia meeting in Turkey, officials discussed the issue of American detainees in Russian prisons.
American basketball player Brittney Griner has been sentenced to nine years in prison for possession and smuggling of cannabis oil. Last week she was transferred to a criminal prison.
Although cannabis use is illegal in Russia, Moscow has been accused of using the Greiner case as political leverage.
In late July, President Biden’s administration offered to swap prisoners with Russia in exchange for the release of Grainer, as well as former US Marine Paul Whelan, whom Moscow accuses of espionage.
The Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, will meet with officials at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the treatment of Russian citizens in US prisons, according to the Russian embassy.
White House media official Karen Jean-Pierre commented on Brittney Greiner’s transfer to a criminal prison and said the United States was “steadfast” in its position to try to release her along with other American inmates.
Covert and back-channel communications are one of the chief intelligence chiefs’ duties, and Burns played an especially important role in this with Russia: months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine he was tasked with providing a warning about potential consequences.
Details on the contents of the Ankara talks have not yet been disclosed and a CIA spokesman confirmed they had not discussed Burns’ activities abroad – but the meeting comes at an important time in the conflict, after the fall of Kherson and the question of how Russia will respond to the setback.
Believing that Naryshkin doesn’t carry as much clout in Moscow as Burns does in Washington – he is not part of Putin’s inner circle, and was notably humiliated by the Russian leader at a meeting on the eve of the invasion in February – American leaders hope the meeting will give a face To the face, the CIA director takes a look at the thought of the Moscow leadership.
