WASHINGTON — President Biden’s top national security adviser has held confidential talks with senior advisers to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the past few months to reduce the risk of a broader conflict over Ukraine and to warn Moscow against using nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction, said US and allied officials.
Officials said US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has been in touch with Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy adviser to Mr Putin. Mr. Sullivan also spoke to his direct counterpart in the Russian government, Nikolai Patrushev, the officials added.
The aim was to prevent the risk of escalation and to keep the lines of communication open and not to discuss a settlement to the war in Ukraine, the officials said.
Asked whether Mr Sullivan took part in secret talks with Messrs Ushakov or Patrushev, National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said “people are saying a lot of things” and declined to comment further. The Kremlin did not respond to a request for comment.
The White House has not publicly confirmed any calls between Mr Sullivan and a senior Russian official since March, when he spoke to Mr Patrushev.
The unpublished discussions come as traditional diplomatic contacts between Washington and Moscow have dwindled and Mr Putin and his associates have hinted he may resort to using nuclear weapons to protect Russian territory, as well as profits from his invasion achieved in Ukraine this year.
Despite its support for Ukraine and punitive measures against Russia over the invasion, the White House has said that maintaining some degree of contact with Moscow is essential to achieving certain shared national security interests.
Several US officials said Mr Sullivan is known within the administration for pushing for a line of communication with Russia, even as other senior policymakers say talks would not be fruitful in the current diplomatic and military environment.
Officials did not provide the exact dates and number of calls, nor did they say if they were productive.
Some former American officials said that as US-Russian relations are at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War, it was useful for the White House to maintain contact with the Kremlin.
“I think it’s always important, especially for nuclear-armed countries, to maintain open channels of communication to understand what each side is thinking, thereby avoiding the possibility of an accidental confrontation or war,” said Ivo Daalder, US Secretary of State. American served as ambassador to NATO during the Obama administration. “National security advisers are the closest link to the Oval Office without bringing the president directly into that channel of communication.”
The US National Security Adviser has held confidential talks with senior advisers to Russian President Vladimir Putin to warn Moscow against using nuclear weapons.
Photo: Evgeny Biyatov/Associated Press
President Biden sought a working relationship with Mr. Putin during his first year in office, which culminated in a summit in Geneva in June 2021. These talks touched on Ukraine, where the sides had clear disagreements on a number of other issues.
In October, however, US intelligence indicated that Russian forces were preparing to invade Ukraine. CIA Director William Burns was dispatched to Moscow in early November 2021 to warn Mr Putin of an invasion.
Mr. Biden spoke to Mr. Putin twice, in December 2021 and again in February 2022, to try to avert a Russian attack while US diplomats worked with their Russian counterparts.
However, after Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, diplomatic and military contacts between the two sides became rare.
Officials said Mr. Sullivan has taken a leading role in coordinating Biden administration policies and plans in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — something expected of the president’s top national security adviser. However, he has also been involved in diplomatic efforts, including a visit to Kyiv on Friday to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, meetings traditionally held by the foreign or defense ministers.
Mr. Sullivan has spoken to Ukraine’s leadership, urging them to publicly signal their willingness to resolve the conflict, a US official said. The US is not urging Ukraine to negotiate, the official added, but to show allies they want a resolution to the conflict that has impacted global oil and food prices.
The Washington Post previously reported on Mr Sullivan’s efforts to persuade Ukrainian officials to seek a solution.
When Mr. Putin and his senior aides hinted in September that Russia could use nuclear weapons if its forces were cornered, Mr. Sullivan said the Biden administration had “directly and privately communicated to the Kremlin at a very high level that anyone Use of nuclear weapons will have catastrophic consequences for Russia.”
The White House did not want to say how this warning was communicated.
The Pentagon said US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with the Russian defense minister and emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication.
Photo: Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and several of his allied colleagues were speaking with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu last month as Moscow claimed Kyiv was preparing to use a so-called dirty bomb against it, which Ukrainian and Western officials have denied.
Mr. Austin initiated the first call, which was their first discussion since May, to emphasize the importance of maintaining lines of communication, the Pentagon said. Mr. Shoigu initiated the second.
Mr. Ushakov, Mr. Putin’s foreign policy adviser, has served as ambassador to Washington and is viewed by former and current US officials as a liaison to the Russian leader.
Mr Burns met with Mr Ushakov in November 2021 during his visit to Moscow before speaking with Mr Putin. Mr. Sullivan spoke to Mr. Ushakov again in December.
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In his March conversation with Mr. Patrushev, which described the White House, Mr. Sullivan told the Russian official that Moscow forces should stop attacking Ukrainian towns and cities and warned the Kremlin not to use chemical or biological weapons.
Mr. Patrushev, who joined the KGB in the 1970s and rose to become director of federal security from 1999 to 2008, is viewed by American officials as a hardliner who shares many of Putin’s distrust of the US
A Russian statement on the March talks between Mr Sullivan and Mr Patrushev said it took place at the initiative of the US and that Mr Patrushev stressed “that Washington’s support of neo-Nazis and terrorists in Ukraine must stop and the transport of foreign mercenaries into… facilitate the conflict zone and refuse to continue supplying arms to the Kiev regime.”
Even as relations between Washington and Moscow have deteriorated, the US has attempted to maintain some areas of cooperation, particularly on strategic arms control and the International Space Station.
Washington and Moscow have joined the new START treaty, which limits US and Russian long-range nuclear weapons and is due to expire in 2026.
According to US officials and a Russian media report, US and Russian officials plan to hold meetings of the Bilateral Consultative Commission established by the new START treaty to discuss its implementation. One goal is to discuss resuming New START inspections that were suspended at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, US officials say.
While Switzerland has been the traditional host country for such talks, Moscow has said it no longer considers it a neutral country because, like other European nations, it imposed economic sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine. Western sanctions have also hampered Russian travel arrangements, so plans are being made to hold the meeting in Cairo in late November, officials said.
The State Department and the Russian government declined to comment on the meetings, which are generally not announced in advance.
– Nancy A. Youssef contributed to this article.
Write to Vivian Salama at [email protected] and to Michael R. Gordon at [email protected]
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