Russian intelligence chief confirms speaking on phone with his CIA counterpart last month

The Russian intelligence chief confirmed on Wednesday that he spoke by phone with his US counterpart last month, discussing the Wagner Group rebellion as well as Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Intelligence (SVR) Director Sergey Naryshkin told Russian state-run news agency TASS that CIA Director William Burns called him on June 24 during the Wagner Group rebellion.

"Yes, indeed, the conversation took place at the end of last month. The pretext for a telephone conversation, as I assess it, on the part of the American colleague was the events of June 24. It's clear how I answered this question about what happened," he said.

Naryshkin said the group's rebellion appeared to him to be "an excuse," because the main part of the conversation was focused on events in and around Ukraine.

"We were thinking, discussing what to do with Ukraine," he noted.

The SVR director said he did not agree to meet with the CIA director, but admitted that such a possibility exists, both of a new phone call and a personal meeting.

On June 24, Wagner Group head Evgeny Prigozhin accused the Russian Defense Ministry of attacking its fighters, declared a "March of Justice," and set off toward Moscow.

The Russian Federal Security Service designated the group's action "an armed rebellion" and opened a criminal case against Prigozhin, while President Vladimir Putin called the private military company's uprising an act of "treason."

Prigozhin, however, later turned back "to avoid bloodshed" and has since moved to Belarus under a deal brokered by Lukashenko.