Russian and U.S. spy chiefs agree to call at any time, SVR director says

Russian spy chief Sergei Naryshkin said in remarks published on Sunday that he had spoken to the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, and that they had agreed to call each other at any time.

The CIA and Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the successor to the KGB’s famed First Chief Directorate, have long been intense rivals, and each service resorted to public campaigns to recruit agents in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war.

SVR Director Naryshkin told Kremlin state television reporter Pavel Zarubin that he had a call with the CIA’s Ratcliffe and agreed on calling each other to discuss issues of interest.

“I had a phone call with my American counterpart, and we reserved for each other the possibility to call each other at any time and discuss issues of interest to us,” Naryshkin told Zarubin.

Naryshkin’s last known call with the CIA director took place in March 2025, according to Russian media.