Russian SVR chief holds phone conversation with CIA boss

SVR chief Sergey Naryshkin (left) and CIA director John Ratcliffe.
Photo: Kremlin Press Office, AFP

Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergey Naryshkin has spoken on the phone with his CIA counterpart, John Ratcliffe, with both agreeing to maintain regular contact, RT reports.

During the conversation the heads of the two agencies agreed to maintain a dialogue in order to “promote international stability and security, as well as to reduce tensions in relations between Moscow and Washington,” the SVR director said in a statement on Wednesday.

Naryshkin and Ratcliffe also discussed cooperation between the two agencies “on areas of mutual interest and the resolution of crisis situations.”

The Russian intelligence chief has repeatedly signaled his readiness to maintain contact with the CIA in recent years despite strained relations between Moscow and Washington. In January, just two days after Ratcliffe’s appointment as CIA director was confirmed by the US Senate, Naryshkin said he was ready to meet with his US counterpart.

The news comes as both Moscow and Washington have resumed dialogue, which largely ceased under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, and intensified efforts to settle the Ukraine conflict.

Russia's intelligence agency said its chief spoke to his CIA counterpart on Tuesday. It's a marked shift in posture and is the first reported contact between the pair in over two years. It comes as a US-proposed cease-fire deal between Russia and Ukraine is on the table, ‘The Business Insider’ comments.

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service said that its chief had spoken to the head of the CIA, in the first reported contact between the pair in over two years.

In the Tuesday call, it said the two agency chiefs agreed to maintain regular contact in the future, a marked shift in relations that comes at a time when a cease-fire deal with Ukraine is on the table.

It came the same day that Ukraine signaled that it was ready to accept a US proposal for an immediate 30-day cease-fire deal with Russia.

Emily Ferris, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told BI that the call was "significant," as the two senior leaders had not spoken in several years.

According to the Russian intelligence agency, known as the SVR, its director, Sergey Naryshkin, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe spoke about how they could interact on matters of common interest and the resolution of crisis situations.

The latest move comes amid a general rapprochement between Trump and Russia, while relations between the US and its traditional allies in Europe have soured.

Edward Hunter Christie, a senior research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told BI that "America is deliberately opening itself to being influenced by official Russian voices."

"Russia will exploit this," he added.

Christie said that the announcement of resumed contact between the SVR and CIA "is the further confirmation of the Trump administration's openly stated intention to have a completely new relationship with Russia, based on collaboration and coordination between the two states on what they can agree on."

The last reported contacts between the heads of the CIA and SVR came in November 2022, when Naryshkin spoke with then CIA chief William Burns in Ankara, Turkey.

Sergey Naryshkin and John Ratcliffe have agreed to maintain regular contact to reduce tensions between the US and Russia.

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