William Burns urged that Sergey Naryshkin confirmed indicators of “hubris” throughout talks in Ankara final November
The head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has given a constructive evaluation of final November’s talks with the CIA director in Türkiye. Sergey Naryshkin’s remarks got here after William Burns accused his Russian counterpart of displaying “a very defiant attitude” and “a sense of cockiness and hubris” in the course of the negotiations.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Naryshkin was requested to touch upon the remarks made by Burns in a CBS News interview, throughout which he described the high-level assembly between the 2 as “pretty dispiriting.”
“I still positively assess the nature and results of the meeting with my colleague William Burns”, Naryshkin stated, noting that the negotiations in Türkiye’s capital have been substantial and proceeded “in a very comfortable atmosphere.”
Moscow’s spy chief went on to specific his “great respect” for his American counterpart. Burns is “a very experienced, skilful diplomat… who, perhaps, has not yet obtained a lot of experience” as CIA Director, Naryshkin remarked.
The SVR chief famous that the negotiations went on for two.5 hours. “This alone shows that the meeting could hardly last as long as it did if one of the sides behaved cockily, rudely, arrogantly,” he added.
Naryshkin additionally speculated as to why Burns could have gotten such an impression. “Maybe, he understood that during this conversation, during these talks, I was leaning not only on my opinion… but on the opinion of the many millions of Russian people.”
The assembly occurred in Ankara in mid-November and is believed to have been the primary in-person contact between high US and Russian officers since Moscow launched its navy marketing campaign in Ukraine in February 2022.
At the time, the White House stated Burns was “conveying a message on the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons by Russia, and the risks of escalation to strategic stability.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated the assembly was organized on the request of US President Joe Biden.
In late November, Naryshkin himself informed Russian media that other than problems with nuclear safety, the assembly was devoted to the battle in Ukraine.