MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Washington insisted on the confidentiality of the communication channel between CIA Director William Burns and Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin, but information was immediately leaked when the American delegation arrived in Ankara, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference on European security issues.
"The Americans themselves told us ten times: that this should be an absolutely confidential channel, we should not announce it so that no one knows anything, that it should be serious, that it, this channel, should not be subject to any foreign propaganda, information intrigues and so on. We agreed. But as soon as they arrived in Ankara it was immediately leaked, I do not know where from, the White House or the State Department, but it was leaked," Russia’s top diplomat emphasized.
Lavrov noted that afterwards, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin had to discuss the meeting publicly and list the issues touched upon, including nuclear security, strategic stability and the situation in Ukraine. According to Lavrov, the talks between the intelligence chiefs were organized at the initiative of the American side.