Heads of CIA, Russian intelligence agency held phone call: reports

MOSCOW: The head of the CIA and the director of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency have spoken by phone and agreed for their agencies to keep up regular contacts, Russian news reports said on Wednesday.

In the first such contact in several years, CIA chief John Ratcliffe and SVR chief Sergei Naryshkin spoke by phone on Tuesday and “agreed on regular contact” between their organisations “in order to contribute to the international stability and security as well as a decrease in confrontation in relations between Moscow and Washington”.

Ukraine endorsed an American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and agreed to immediate negotiations with Russia in crunch talks in Jeddah on Tuesday after three years of grinding war.

The positive response from Ukraine prompted President Donald Trump’s administration to lift a freeze on military aid and to predict the beginning to an end of the conflict.

With Trump stunning allies by applying intense pressure on Kyiv and reaching out to Moscow, Ukrainian officials came to talks in Saudi Arabia eager to make up and had proposed a partial truce on air and sea attacks.

Trump’s advisors pressed for more and said Ukraine agreed to their proposal for a full month-long ceasefire in a war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

“Today we made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a ceasefire and into immediate negotiations,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters after around nine hours of talks in an ornate hotel in Jeddah.

“We’ll take this offer now to the Russians and we hope they’ll say yes to peace. The ball is now in their court.

“If they say no then we’ll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here,” Rubio said of Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour in February 2022.

Rubio said the United States would immediately resume military assistance and intelligence sharing it had cut off to pressure its wartime partner following a disastrous February 28 meeting between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In Washington, Trump said he was ready to welcome Zelensky back to the White House and may speak to President Vladimir Putin this week.

Asked by a reporter about the prospects of a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine, Trump answered: “Well, I hope it will be over the next few days, I’d like to see.

“I know we have a big meeting with Russia tomorrow and some great conversations hopefully will ensue.”