Russian spy chief met top officials in US last week
WASHINGTON: Russia’s foreign spy chief, who is under US sanctions, met last week outside Washington with US intelligence officials, two US sources said, confirming a disclosure that intensified political infighting over probes into Moscow’s alleged meddling in the 2016 US election.
Sergey Naryshkin, head of the Russian service known by its acronym SVR, held talks with US Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and other US intelligence officials, the sources said. The sources did not reveal the topics discussed.
A Russian embassy tweet disclosed Naryshkin’s visit. It cited a state-run ITAR-TASS news report that quoted Russia’s ambassador Anatoly Antonov, as telling Rossiya-1 television that Naryshkin and his US counterparts discussed the “joint struggle against terrorism”.
Antonov did not identify the US intelligence officials with whom he met.
CNN, quoting US ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, reported CIA director Mike Pompeo met with his Russian counterparts when they travelled to the US.
Russian media reported that those who met Pompeo may have included Naryshkin.
The CIA declined to comment. Coats’ office said that while it does not discuss US intelligence officials’ schedules, “any interaction with foreign intelligence agencies would have been conducted in accordance with US law and in consultation with appropriate departments and agencies”.
News of Naryshkin’s secret visit poured fresh fuel on the battles pitting the Trump administration and its Republican defenders against Democrats over investigations into Moscow’s alleged 2016 election interference.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer demanded that the administration “immediately come clean and answer which US officials he met with and what they discussed.
“Russia hacked our elections,” Schumer said. “We sanctioned the head of their foreign intelligence and then the Trump administration invites him to waltz through our front door.”