CIA Director Bill Burns has warned Russia against using nuclear weapons at the first known face-to-face meeting between senior officials from the two countries since President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
Burns delivered his warning at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Naryshkin on Monday in Ankara, Turkey, the US said.
“It sends a message about the consequences of Russia’s use of nuclear weapons and the risks of escalation for strategic stability,” the White House said Monday.
Burns’ meeting with foreign spy chief Naryshkin — the first confirmed high-level personal contact between the US and Russia since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February — comes at a tense juncture in the war.
US officials have raised concerns that Putin could deploy a tactical nuclear weapon or other weapon of mass destruction on the battlefield, especially as Russian forces continue to face military setbacks.
Russian forces withdrew from Kherson last week, depriving Putin of the only regional capital captured during the nine-month invasion. The Russian president also faces the risk of losing territory he annexed in a ceremony at the Kremlin in September.
Announcing the annexation, Putin said Moscow would use “all means at its disposal” to protect its new territories – and veiledly threatened to use nuclear weapons to that end.
But Putin’s escalation failed to deter Ukraine, whose better-equipped, larger force continued to reclaim territory just days after Putin claimed it was part of Russia.
The loss of Kherson – which Russia has tried to portray as a “maneuver” rather than a humiliating retreat – is one of Moscow’s biggest setbacks to date.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he could “only” declare that Kherson is “territory of the Russian Federation” on Monday when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the city and was greeted enthusiastically by soldiers and locals who had been living underground for months became cast. Russian troops had taken the provincial capital in March.
Nuclear tensions escalated last month after Russia accused Ukraine of preparing to use a primitive explosive device containing radioactive material known as a dirty bomb, sparking fears Moscow could launch a “false flag attack”. , which could be blamed on Kyiv.
But US officials said fears had calmed after a phone call between Western defense chiefs and their Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu.
At a conference last month, Putin said Russia would not use nuclear weapons in Ukraine because it made “no military or political sense,” despite repeating claims about Ukraine’s alleged dirty bomb.
According to people familiar with the discussions, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has also held talks with senior Russian officials to try to calm nuclear tensions.
The meetings between US and Russian intelligence chiefs come as some members of the Biden administration see an opportunity for possible peace talks as fighting is expected to ease over the winter.
“It will probably be static over the winter; There will be fighting, but it will be relatively static, and then there will be a window of opportunity for negotiations,” Mark Milley, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said last week.