In the first such contact in several years, CIA chief John Ratcliffe and the head of Russia’s external intelligence agency SVR Sergei Naryshkin spoke by phone yesterday, the state TASS agency said.

They “agreed on regular contact” between their agencies “in order to contribute to the international stability and security, as well as a decrease in confrontation in relations between Moscow and Washington”.

The call was the first such contact since US President Donald Trump assumed office vowing to end the three-year Ukraine conflict.

It took place on the same day that Ukraine backed a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and agreed to immediate negotiations with Russia in crunch talks in Saudi Arabia.

The last reported contacts between the heads of the CIA and SVR came in November 2022, when Naryshkin spoke with then CIA chief William Burns in Ankara.