The director of the CIA called the Kremlin to make it clear that the US had no connection with Wagner’s uprising.

William J. Burns, the director of the CIA, called the chief of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency after last week’s uprising to assure the Kremlin that the United States was not involved, according to a US official.

Mr Burns called Sergei Naryshkin, the leader of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency known as the SVR, said the official, who was briefed on the call and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. The two men have met at least once before, in Turkey, to discuss concerns over the threat of nuclear escalation in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The CIA declined to comment on the case Friday previously reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The Biden administration has gone to great lengths to stress to Russian officials that the United States was not involved in the failed attempts by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin and his private military company Wagner to force Russian defense officials out of their offices in southern Russia or in their march on Moscow to expel. , and that the US considered the matter an internal Russian matter.

In public comments, Sergey V. Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, appeared to accept those statements, noting that the United States also urged Ukraine not to take advantage of the uprising. US officials have asked Ukraine not to carry out covert attacks.