Chiefs Of Three Russian Intelligence Agencies Travel To Washington
www.rferl.org/amp/russia-spy-chiefs-washington/29010324.html?__twitter_impression=true
WASHINGTON -- The directors of Russia’s three main intelligence and espionage agencies all traveled to the U.S. capital in recent days, in what observers said was a highly unusual occurrence coming at a time of heightened U.S.-Russian tensions.
Russia’s ambassador to the United States had earlier confirmed that Sergei Naryshkin, the head of the foreign intelligence service SVR, was in Washington in recent days to meet with U.S. officials about terrorism and other matters.
But the presence of the two other chiefs Aleksandr Bortnikov, director of the Federal Security Service, or FSB; and Lieutenant General Igor Korobov, chief of Russian General Staff’s Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU was not previously known.
The Washington Post said January 31 that Bortnikov and Korobov came to the U.S. capital last week, and that Bortnikov had met with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, as did Naryshkin.
[...]CIA directors regularly meet and hold talks with their Russian counterparts on a variety of issues. But veteran and retired U.S. intelligence officers said the presence of all three Russian officials in Washington at the same time, and at a time of intense scrutiny over Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, is highly unusual.
“I can’t recall any time in the last 15 years” that all three Russian agency chiefs were in the U.S. capital at the same time, Steven Hall, a former CIA station chief in Moscow, told RFE/RL. “It’s highly unusual.”