CIA Director Bill Burns will meet in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday with his Russian intelligence counterpart to underscore the consequences if Russia were to deploy a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, according to a White House National Security Council official.
The official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, “ Burns and Sergey Naryshkin, the head of Russia's SVR spy agency, would not discuss settlement of the war in Ukraine.”
Burns is also expected to raise the cases of WNBA star Brittney Griner and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, two Americans detained in Russia whom the Biden administration has been pressing to release in a prisoner exchange.
The official said that Ukrainian officials were briefed ahead of Burns' travel to Turkey.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday he could neither confirm nor deny reports of US-Russia talks in Turkey.
Two Turkish officials said they had no knowledge about a meeting between US and Russian delegations. A Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
