CIA boss pans meddling

CIA Director Mike Pompeo said yesterday Russia has no plans to leave Syria and will continue to try to meddle in US affairs to “stick it to America”.

He reiterated his belief that Russia interfered in the US presidential election and described the US-Russia relationship as “complicated”.

“I think they find any place that they can make our lives more difficult,” he said. “I think they find that’s something that’s useful.”

Mr Pompeo ( pictured) also said he had seen only minimal evidence that Russia had pursued a serious strategy against Islamic State militants in Syria.

He said any suggestion that Russia had been a US ally in Syria was not borne out by what’s happening on the ground.

But Mr Pompeo said he was hopeful there would be places where the US and Russia could cooperate on counterterrorism.

The CIA director spoke at the Aspen Security Forum, an annual gathering of intelligence and national security officials and experts in Aspen, Colorado.

Russia will stay in Syria, he said, because it loved its naval port in Tartus, off the Mediterranean Sea.