In the first face-to-face high-level diplomatic contact between Washington and Moscow since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Bill Burns, the director of the CIA, and Sergei Naryskin, the head of Russia’s SVR spy agency, meet in Ankara to discuss the detainees. American citizens and nuclear risk. The White House emphasized that Burns “is not conducting any kind of negotiations.” Ukraine was briefed ahead of the trip, with the White House saying: “We stand firmly by our fundamental principle: nothing for Ukraine without Ukraine.” A spokesman for the National Security Council said: “He is not discussing settling the war in Ukraine. “It sends a message about the consequences of Russia’s use of nuclear weapons and the risks of escalation to strategic stability. It will also raise the cases of wrongfully detained US citizens.” There have been no high-level public talks between the US and Russia since Sergei Lavrov and Anthony Blinken, the US secretary of state, met in Geneva in January, a month before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. US President Joe Biden sent Burns to Moscow last November to try to prevent Vladimir Putin from going ahead with his planned invasion of Ukraine. But the White House said: “We’ve been very open about having channels of communication with Russia about risk management, particularly nuclear risk and risks to strategic stability.” The meeting comes as world leaders, including Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping, gather in Bali for the annual G20 summit, which opens on Tuesday. Vladimir Putin will not attend and will be represented by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
