MOSCOW: The director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, raised the issue of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad leaving power when he visited Moscow at the start of March, RIA news agency cited the U.S. embassy in Russia as saying on Monday.
Brennan also discussed the observance of the ceasefire in Syria, the agency said.
Interfax news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov as saying earlier on Monday that Brennan had meetings at Russia’s Federal Security Service, among other places, and his visit was not linked to the decision by Moscow to start withdrawing its forces from Syria.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said later on Monday that there had been no contacts between Brennan and the Kremlin during the visit.
(Reporting by Anton Zverev and Polina Devitt; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Christian Lowe)
Reuters
