Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Mike Pompeo defended meetings in Washington with top Russian espionage counterparts despite one being under US sanctions on Thursday.
Mr Pompeo told senator Chuck Schumer in a letter that the meetings reportedly held last week with Sergey Naryshkin, the head of the Russian foreign intelligence service (FSB), and FSB director Alexander Bortnikov, were normal business in the process of the CIA’s mission to “keep Americans safe.”
“While Russia remains an adversary, we would put American lives at greater risk if we ignored opportunities to work with the Russian services in the fight against terrorism,” Pompeo said.
Mr Naryshkin’s visit, first reported in the Russian media, raised eyebrows because he is on a US sanctions blacklist, which normally would have prevented him from travelling to Washington.
After the news came out, Mr Schumer, the leading Democrat in the Senate, asked for clarification on why he came and with whom he had met.
The secret meetings also raised questions as they came just before a decision by the Trump administration to withhold new sanctions on Moscow despite Congress voting to impose them last year.
The US stepped up sanctions against Russia in early 2017 after concluding that Moscow actively interfered in the presidential election to boost Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
That included expelling 35 alleged Russian spies and shuttering two rural compounds in the states of New York and Maryland that Russians call recreational retreats but US officials say were spying operations.
Mr Pompeo noted that his predecessors in the US intelligence community also met their Russian counterparts despite tensions.
He noted that the CIA had a role in helping Russian intelligence disrupt a plot by Islamic extremists to set off bombs in St Petersburg in December.
“We continue to work together on issues such as aviation security and preventing foreign fighters returning to both Russia and America.”
He added that the discussions also include “very difficult subjects in which US and Russian interests do not align.”
“We vigorously defend America in these encounters and pull no punches – we never will,” Mr Pompeo said.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
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Rating: 3/5
if you go
The flights
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
