The director of the Russian Foreign Spying Service (SVR), Sergei Narrykin, announced today that he had talked to US CIA chief John Ratclifh in a new, official telephone conversation, after a first contact between the two men in mid -March.

“I had a telephone conversation with my American counterpart and we agreed to telephon us at any time to discuss issues that interest us,” Narrykin told Russian television, without going into details.

Narykin, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin, and Ratclifis had already spoken on the phone on March 11, in their first known contact after returning to Donald Trump’s White House earlier this year.

These two official telephone communications between Russian SVR leaders and the US CIA took place at a time when Moscow and Washington have begun a process of re -heating their diplomatic relationships, despite the continuation of the war in Ukraine, where Americans support Kiev.