Wagner mutiny: Russian spy chief admits speaking with CIA director

The head of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency SVR, Sergey Naryshkin, said he spoke with the director of the CIA days after the brief uprising by Wagner mercenary soldiers.

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The hour-long conversation at the end of June with CIA Director William Burns focused mostly on Ukraine, Naryshkin told Russian state news agency TASS on Wednesday.

“We have considered and discussed what to do with Ukraine,” he said.

Russia has been waging a full-scale war in Ukraine since February 2022.

The U.S. has been the leading supporter of Ukraine throughout the war, supplying the country with intelligence as well as billions of dollars worth of weapons.

Naryshkin told TASS that conditions for negotiations with Kiev are not yet in place.

“But of course, negotiations will be possible sooner or later because every conflict, even an armed one, ends with negotiations,” Naryshkin said.

“However, the conditions for this are not yet ripe,” he said.

During the conversation with Burns, he also answered questions about the “events” on June 24, Naryshkin said.

On that day, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had his troops occupied the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and sent a military column marching toward Moscow.