CIA Director Bill Burns held an unannounced meeting with his Russian Intelligence counterpart to discuss the consequences if Russia was to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine

The meeting between CIA Director Bill Burns and Russia’s head of intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, occurred in the Turkish Capital of Ankara. The meeting was hosted by Turkey’s intelligence agency, the MIT.

Russia’s head of intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin

A top Turkish aide to President Recep Tayyip, Fahrettin Alutin, confirmed the meeting between the two spy agencies saying “the meeting was related to threats against international security, starting with the use of nuclear weapons.” Alutin added, “Turkey will continue to negotiate with all relevant parties for peace and shall not refrain from taking the initiative during this process.”

Russia’s head of intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also confirmed the meeting between the two spy chiefs and added that it was requested by the United States. Peskov would not elaborate on what the conversation was about. The United States declined to confirm or deny if a meeting was held.

This development comes as multiple military analysts provided a wide variety of speculation regarding the meeting. Some analysts said the meeting could have been signaling the beginning of a peace deal, with US officials pushing back, saying it’s up to Ukraine to decide if they want to hold talks with Russia. Other military analysts say the meeting could have been due to possible intelligence on Russia possibly using a nuclear weapon in the near future after major setbacks in Ukraine. Dave Freestone, a military analyst, said, “It’s rare for the director of the CIA to decide to get on a plane, fly to Turkey, and hold direct talks with the head of a Russian spy agency. Turkey has confirmed the discussions were about nuclear weapons; Burns [CIA Director] must have some sort of intelligence that required a face-to-face meeting.”