Sergey Naryshkin says the call about “what to do with Ukraine” took place shortly after Wagner’s failed riot in June.
Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin has said he and his CIA counterpart William Burns discussed “what to do with Ukraine” in a phone call late last month, according to a report by the state news agency TASS.
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported on June 30 that Burns had called Naryshkin to assure the Kremlin that the United States had no role in the brief mutiny a week earlier by Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his group of fighters Wagner.
Naryshkin confirmed that Burns had brought up “the events of June 24”, when mercenaries seized control of a southern Russian city and advanced towards Moscow before reaching an agreement with the Kremlin to end in the revolt
But he said that during most of the call, which lasted about an hour, “we thought and discussed what to do with Ukraine.”
The CIA declined to comment on his statements.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has said other countries should not negotiate its future on its behalf.
The United States has repeatedly supported this principle, described as “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
Burns and Naryshkin have maintained a line of communication since the start of the Ukraine war at a time when other direct contacts between Moscow and Washington are minimal, and relations are at their lowest point since the crisis of the 1962 Cuban missiles.
Conversations “sooner or later”
Naryshkin told TASS that negotiations on the war would be possible at some point. The news agency did not specify whether that was part of his conversation with Burns.
“It is natural that negotiations will be possible sooner or later, because any conflict, including armed conflict, ends with negotiations, but the conditions for them have yet to mature,” TASS said.
Asked about the report, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told the Reuters news agency: “Today, someone like Naryshkin has no influence on how this war will end.”
Podolyak said that Russia was losing the war and that there could be no negotiations with people like Naryshkin.
“This Russian elite perceives events completely inadequately, so there is nothing to discuss with them.”
Ukraine, which launched a long-awaited counter-offensive last month, has said it will not start talks at this time as that could effectively freeze the situation on the battlefield, where Russia has seized more than a sixth of the its territory
