Radio Poland
March 22, 2022

CIA chief visits Warsaw ahead of Duda-Biden talks on Ukraine war

The director of the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns, visited Poland at the start of this week as the two countries step up their intelligence cooperation amid Russia’s war on Ukraine, officials told reporters.

The visit came ahead of US President Joe Biden’s trip to Warsaw later this week, for talks with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda on the international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine….

While in Warsaw, Burns on Monday met with Poland’s Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński, who oversees his country’s security agencies, officials said.

Kamiński’s spokesman, Stanisław Żaryn, said in a statement on Tuesday that the meeting explored “current challenges posed by Russia’s war operations against Ukraine.”

Burns also held talks with the chiefs of Poland’s civil and military intelligence and counterintelligence agencies, according to Żaryn.

He told the media that the CIA director’s visit to Poland “at this difficult time, underlines the special importance of the Poland-US relationship and cooperation on the response to Russian threats.”

While in the Polish capital, Burns also stopped at the presidential palace for a talk with Duda in the company of the US ambassador to Poland, Mark Brzezinski, and Duda’s top foreign policy advisor, Jakub Kumoch, according to officials.

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The Polish president’s chief of staff, Paweł Szrot, on Tuesday refused to reveal details of Duda’s conversation with Burns.

In an interview with Polish Radio, Szrot only said that “Poland and the United States have intensified their intelligence cooperation” amid Russia’s aggression against Ukraine….