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In response to
"As the G20 summit ends, divisions persist over sanctions on Russia."
by
crash davis
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The C.I.A. director holds talks in Ukraine for the second time in two months.
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William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, visited Ukraine on Tuesday for talks with Ukrainian officials, his second visit to the country in two months, according to a U.S. official.
The meeting, in Kyiv, came a day after Mr. Burns met in Turkey with a senior Russian intelligence official to convey a warning against the use of a nuclear device or any escalation of the conflict. The U.S. official who discussed Mr. Burns’s visit spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
While in Kyiv on Tuesday, Mr. Burns spoke with Ukrainian intelligence officials and President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the visit, Russian missile strikes hit Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine. Mr. Burns was inside the U.S. Embassy at the time of the strikes, the U.S. official said.
In addition to reinforcing American support for Ukraine, Mr. Burns’s visit was aimed at reassuring Ukrainian officials that discussions with Russian officials were about the threat of nuclear escalation. The Biden administration has taken pains to emphasize that the United States is not attempting to negotiate an end to the war, and American officials have insisted they will not negotiate over the war without Ukrainian officials present.
Mr. Burns visited Ukraine immediately before the war to warn officials about the impending invasion. He traveled to Kyiv again in October for meetings with Mr. Zelensky.
The talks in Ankara, Turkey on Monday were between Mr. Burns and Sergei Naryshkin, the director of Russia’s foreign intelligence service. The talks, conducted at the behest of the Americans, were held amid rising nuclear tensions.
In October, the United States collected intelligence about conversations between Russian generals about the use of nuclear weapons. That intelligence, which was circulated in the U.S. government in mid-October, came around the same time that Russia began accusing Ukraine, without evidence, of having plans to use a dirty bomb, an explosive device that spreads radioactive material over an area. Some U.S. officials thought that Russia’s dirty bomb allegations could be aimed at creating a pretext to use a nuclear weapon.
U.S. intelligence has been critical to Ukraine as it has tried to exploit weaknesses in Russian defenses and mount counterattacks. Still, American officials have repeatedly complained that Ukraine does not share information about its military plans, including its covert operations.
— Julian E. Barnes
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