William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, called the leader of Russia’s foreign intelligence service after last week’s rebellion to assure the Kremlin that the United States had no involvement in it, according to a U.S. official.
Mr. Burns called Sergei Naryshkin, the leader of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, which is known as the S.V.R., 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 C.I.A. declined on Friday to comment on the matter, which was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The Biden administration has taken pains to emphasize to Russian officials that the United States was not involved in the aborted efforts by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin and his Wagner private military company to drive Russian defense officials from their offices in southern Russia or in their march to Moscow, and that the U.S. viewed the matter as an internal Russian affair.
In public comments, Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, has appeared to accept those explanations, noting that the United States also urged Ukraine to refrain from trying to take advantage of the rebellion. U.S. officials asked Ukraine not to carry out any covert attacks.
