CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence agency, spoke by phone on Tuesday, marking the first such contact between the spy chiefs in over two years. The call, reported by Russian state news agency TASS, was aimed at lowering the temperature in U.S.-Russia relations.
The two intelligence leaders agreed to regular contact between their agencies, with the goal of contributing to international stability and security, and reducing confrontation between Moscow and Washington. This interaction occurred on the same day that Ukraine supported a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and consented to immediate negotiations with Russia in Saudi Arabia.
The phone call was also the first since President Trump began his second term, having vowed to end the three-year Ukraine war. The last reported contact between the heads of the CIA and SVR was in November 2022, when then-CIA chief William Burns met with Naryshkin in Ankara, Turkey. Prior to that, William Burns made a rare visit to Moscow in November 2021 to discuss U.S.-Russia ties, and in June 2023, Burns reportedly called to reassure the Kremlin after the Wagner mutiny, informing Russia that the U.S. had no role in the uprising.
