US, Russia spy chiefs agree to hold regular contacts

Moscow,: The heads of US and Russian spy agencies have have spoken by phone and agreed to keep up regular contacts to lower the temperature in US-Russia relations, news reports said on Wednesday.

In the first such contact in several years, CIA chief John Ratcliffe and the head of Russia's external intelligence agency SVR Sergei Naryshkin spoke by phone on Tuesday, the state TASS agency said.

They "agreed on regular contact" between their agencies "in order to contribute to the international stability and security, as well as a decrease in confrontation in relations between Moscow and Washington".


The call was the first such contact since US President Donald Trump assumed office vowing to end the three-year Ukraine conflict.

It took place on the same day that Ukraine backed a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and agreed to immediate negotiations with Russia in crunch talks in Saudi Arabia.

The last reported contacts between the heads of the CIA and SVR came in November 2022, when Naryshkin spoke with then CIA chief William Burns in Ankara.