On March 12th, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Agency announced that Sergei Naryshkin, the director of the agency, had a phone call with the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Ratcliffe. The two sides reached an agreement on regular contacts between intelligence agencies to reduce confrontation between Moscow and Washington.

The news mentioned that both sides also discussed the interaction between the intelligence agencies of the two countries in areas of common interest and crisis management issues.

Previously, there were reports that US Middle East envoy Vitkov would visit Russia this week and meet with Russian President Putin. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zakharova commented on this on the 11th, saying that Russia and the United States are intensively discussing the level and form of their contacts, and "we will keep you informed of the development of the situation at any time.