Yesterday, I reported that the Russian Interfax news agency had a story out that the director of the CIA visited Ukraine under an assumed name (SEE: Big Time US Meddling? Report CIA Head was Recently in Ukraine).
The White House is now confirming that CIA Director John Brennan visited Ukrainian capital Kiev over the weekend and met with high-ranked Ukrainian officials.
Deposed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich had accused Brennan of ordering a crackdown on pro-Russian activists in the east of the country, reports RT.
"We don't normally comment on the CIA director's travel but given the extraordinary circumstances in this case and the false claims being leveled by the Russians at the CIA we can confirm that the director was in Kiev as part of a trip to Europe," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
"Senior level visits of intelligence officials are a standard means of fostering mutually beneficial security cooperation including U.S.-Russian intelligence collaboration going back to the beginnings of the post-Cold War era," Carney explained.
"U.S. and Russian intelligence officials have met over the years. To imply that U.S. officials meeting with their counterparts is anything other than in the same spirit is absurd."
On Monday, Aleksandr Yakimenko, the head of Ukraine's security service, the SBU, during Yanukovich's term went one step further, and said that his successor, Valentin Nalivaychenko, is a double agent working for the CIA.
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