Russia spy chief toured US, met officials last week
Washington, Jan. 31: 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 Mr Naryshkin’s visit. It cited a state- run ITAR- Tass news report that quoted Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, as telling Rossiya- 1 television that Naryshkin and his US counterparts discussed the “joint struggle against terrorism”. Mr Antonov did not identify the US intelligence officials with whom he met.
The Central Intelligence Agency 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 questions - which US officials did he meet with? Did any White House or National Security Council official meet with Naryshkin? What did they discuss?”
The key question, Schumer told reporters, is whether Naryshkin’s visit accounted for the administration’s decision on Monday not to slap new sanctions on Russia under a law passed last year to punish Moscow’s purported election meddling.