The Russian side believes that Russia and Ukraine may negotiate at some point in time to end the war, confirmed! Russian and American intelligence officials have a long conversation with director at the end of June | Time | Ukraine
Sergei Nareshkin, Director of the Russian Federation's External Intelligence Agency, confirmed on the 12th local time that he had a phone call with William Burns, Director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, at the end of June to discuss how to resolve the Ukrainian crisis.
Phone call between the United States and Russia
On the 12th, TASS reported from Nareshkin that high-ranking intelligence officials from Russia and the United States had a phone conversation at the end of June, and the communication between the two sides lasted for about an hour.
Director of the Russian Federation's External Intelligence Agency, Nareshkin, and Director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, Burns
According to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, Burns called Nareshkin on June 30th to explain that the US was not involved in the Wagner incident that occurred a week ago. Nareshkin told TASS reporters that the Wagner incident became the starting point for the US to communicate with him. "In my opinion, this is probably a starting point, as most of the dialogue focused on discussing the situation in Ukraine and related topics."
The CIA did not respond to Nareshkin's statement.
Ukraine has repeatedly stated that other countries cannot hold negotiations on Ukraine's future in the absence of Ukraine. The United States has repeatedly expressed support for this principle, stating that it will not discuss Ukraine behind its back.
According to Reuters, Berns and Nareshkin have been in communication since the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine. However, during this period, other direct contacts between Russia and the United States were at their lowest level, and bilateral relations were at their lowest point since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
![The Russian side believes that Russia and Ukraine may negotiate at some point in time to end the war, confirmed! Russian and American intelligence officials have a long conversation with director at the end of June | Time | Ukraine](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/98096b3f28e8fef0c09fc495ce13f670.jpg)
TASS quoted Nareshkin as saying that although he and Burns did not reach an agreement in person during the conversation, it is not ruled out that the two may meet.
"Negotiations will eventually become possible"
Nareshkin told TASS reporters that Russia and Ukraine may hold negotiations at some point in time to end the war. However, TASS did not specify whether Nareshkin and Burns discussed this topic during their conversation.
Nareshkin said, "It is natural that negotiations will eventually become possible. Because any conflict, including armed conflict, ends with negotiations, but negotiations need to have mature conditions."
When asked about his views on Nareshkin's remarks, Mikhail Podolyak, an advisor to the Ukrainian Presidential Office, told Reuters that people like Nareshkin have no influence on how the Ukrainian crisis will end. Russian upper class members have a "completely inadequate" understanding of the Ukrainian crisis and have "nothing to talk to them about.".
The Ukrainian army began a counterattack on the Russian military positions in early June, but progress was not significant. Officials from multiple countries discussed the situation between Russia and Ukraine in the Danish capital Copenhagen at the end of June. Subsequently, German media reported that the two sides would hold peace talks in July. However, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian President, said on June 27th that the Kremlin is not aware of the peace talks plan.
According to the Washington Post on June 30th, Burns secretly visited the Ukrainian capital Kiev in June to listen to Ukraine's plans to recover territories occupied by Russia this autumn and engage in ceasefire negotiations with Russia before the end of the year.