Naryshkin denied accusations of insolence in negotiations with CIA head Burns

Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin said he respects his CIA colleague William Burns. His words transmits RIA Novosti agency.

“I retain great respect for my colleague William Burns – both as a very experienced, skillful diplomat, and as my colleague, who, perhaps, has not yet very much experience as director of the Central Intelligence Agency,” Naryshkin said.

Commenting on the meeting with Burns in Ankara, the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service noted that the talks were substantive and took place in a comfortable atmosphere. Naryshkin also assessed the results of the meeting positively. According to him, the negotiations went on for about 2.5 hours. Naryshkin doubted that the conversation could have lasted so long if “one of the parties behaved insolently, rudely, arrogantly.”

On February 25, in an interview with CBS News, CIA Director William Burns declaredthat Naryshkin’s tone during the negotiations in Ankara seemed to him “impudent and arrogant.”

The meeting between Naryshkin and Burns took place on November 14, 2022 in Ankara at the headquarters of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization. According to the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, topics for discussion become nuclear safety and Ukraine. US Chargé d’Affaires in Moscow Elizabeth Rood then specified that the issue of resolving the conflict in Ukraine was not raised at the talks.