The high-level meeting in Turkey will be the first face-to-face summit between a top Kremlin and US official since the invasion

America and Russia’s top spy chiefs met in Turkey for secret talks about the war in Ukraine as world leaders gathered at the G20 in Indonesia.

Bill Burns, director of the CIA, and Sergey Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency, met in Ankara in the first face-to-face high-level contact between Washington and Moscow since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,

The White House said they discussed the use of nuclear weapons, and stressed that Mr Burns is “not conducting negotiations of any kind”. The US has been openly calling for Ukraine and Russia to engage in peace talks after Kyiv’s victory recapturing the city of Kherson.

Ukraine was briefed in advance of the Ankara meeting, the White House said, adding: “We firmly stick to our fundamental principle: nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

The Kremlin did not confirm or deny the meeting was taking place.

On Monday night, Rishi Sunak said Britain believed in “putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position for an eventual negotiation”.

He added: “And that’s our job - and ultimately the Ukrainians will then decide the basis of those talks.”

President Biden sent Mr Burns to Moscow in November last year to try to dissuade Vladimir Putin from going ahead with his planned invasion of Ukraine.

However, the White House said: “We have been very open about the fact that we have channels to communicate with Russia on managing risk, especially nuclear risk and risks to strategic stability.”


The meeting in Ankara follows reports that American officials have asked their Ukrainian counterparts to soften their war aims in a bid to make negotiations work.

Mr Sullivan to Kyiv last week asked Mr Zelensky to drop his demand that Russia gives up Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported.


Source: https://www telegraph co uk/world-news/2022/11/14/russias-spy-chief-talk-us-g20-leaders-meet-discuss-ukraine-war/