WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (Portal) – National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has held secret talks with top Russian officials in hopes of reducing the risk that the war in Ukraine spills over or escalates into a nuclear conflict, Wall Street reported Journal on Sunday.
The newspaper quoted US and allied officials as saying that Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s top national security adviser, has been holding confidential talks in recent months with Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Sullivan’s counterpart, led, which have not been publicly disclosed.
The White House declined to comment on the report, responding to questions about the story only with a statement attributed to National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson: “People are saying a lot of things.”
The Wall Street Journal said officials did not provide the dates or the number of calls.
Few high-level contacts between US and Russian officials have been made public in recent months, as Washington has insisted that all talks on ending the war in Ukraine take place between Moscow and Kyiv.
The reported talks came as the West accused Moscow of stepping up nuclear rhetoric, most recently by repeatedly accusing Kyiv of plotting to use a radioactive “dirty bomb” without providing evidence.
Kyiv has denied having such a plan, and the United States and other Western nations have said Russia could plan to orchestrate such an attack itself and use it as a pretext to escalate the conflict.
Russia, in turn, accuses the West of “encouraging provocations.”
Sullivan traveled to Kyiv on Friday and pledged Washington’s “unwavering and unwavering” support for Ukraine.
Reporting by Simon Lewis; Edited by Daniel Wallis
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