MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/. Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) maintain open lines of communication, but they are "modest," SVR Director Sergey Naryshkin told TASS.

"Official representatives of our intelligence services - the CIA and the SVR - work both in Washington and in Moscow. There is an exchange of information, albeit modest, but there is an exchange of information. Such contacts exist and are maintained. And this is good," the foreign intelligence chief emphasized.

Naryshkin and CIA head William Burns last met in person on November 14, 2022 in Ankara at the headquarters of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization. At the end of June 2023, the foreign intelligence chiefs had a telephone conversation, during which they, according to Naryshkin, "thought about and discussed what to do about Ukraine." He said that the conversation lasted "about an hour." At the time, the SVR chief pointed out that the possibility of a personal meeting between the two remains. In February, Naryshkin also said that talks with the CIA chief were on the table, but that no exact dates had been pinned down yet.