OP-ED

Vladimir Frolov: Why the directors of Russia’s Intelligence Agencies visited Washington

Published Feb. 8, 2018 at 3:40 pm

Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd L) speaks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L), director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin (R) and Alexander Bortnikov (2nd R), director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on Dec. 19, 2016, few hours after the Russian ambassador to Ankara was shot dead by a gunman during an attack at an art exhibition in Ankara.A gunman crying "Aleppo" and "revenge" shot Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov while he was visiting an art exhibition in Ankara on December 19, witnesses and media reports said. The Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency said the gunman had been "neutralised" in a police operation, without giving further details.

Photo by AFP

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence (SVR) Director Sergei Naryshkin and Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) head Igor Korobov — both of whom are personally targeted by U.S. sanctions — along with the Federal Security Service (FSB) chief all travelled at the same time in January to the United States.

It was an extraordinary event given the adversarial state of U.S.-Russian relations.