On November 2, CIA Director William Barnes was ushered into the Kremlin office of Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin's foreign affairs adviser and former ambassador to the United States.. The Russian president was present by phone and spoke from a resort in Sochi where he was hiding from another wave of coronavirus infections in Moscow.

The Washington Post writes that during the meeting, the Russian autocrat reiterated his traditional criticisms of NATO expansion, threats to Russian security, and illegitimate leadership in Ukraine..

“He was very dismissive of President Volodymyr Zelensky as a political leader,” Barnes recalled..

The director of the CIA had a lot of experience listening to such tirades from Putin during his years in Moscow.. In the end, Barnes delivered his firm message: " He left a letter from President Joe Biden confirming that any Russian attack against Ukraine would have consequences.. Barnes said Putin " He did not deny intelligence that Russia was preparing to start a war..

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The CIA director also met with other Putin advisers, including former KGB officer Nikolai Patrushev, head of Russia's National Security Council.. Patrushev thought Barnes was in Moscow to discuss Putin's next meeting with Biden and seemed surprised that the CIA director actually brought a warning about Ukraine. In a conversation with the director of the CIA, he almost exactly repeated Putin's offended theses about history and NATO.. Clearly there was no room for reasonable discussion.. Barnes got the impression that Putin and his inner circle created a "

By that time, the Russian autocrat had not yet made an irreversible decision to start a war.. However, his views on Ukraine have hardened and his appetite for risk has grown.. In addition, Putin was convinced that his options would soon disappear..

“My anxiety level has increased, not eased,” Barnes told the US President when he returned.

As the CIA director spoke to Putin, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken sat at a table with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Glasgow, where they were both attending the climate summit.. An American diplomat described to him the picture formed by the intelligence data, warning that a Russian storm was approaching Ukraine..

“It was just the two of us, two feet apart,” Blinken recalled, adding that the conversation was “difficult.”.

The Secretary of State had already met with the Ukrainian President and thought he knew him well enough to speak frankly.. Although, according to Blinken, there was a surreal feeling due to the need to " He considered Zelensky " But Blinken knew that the Ukrainians “have seen a lot of Russian fake strikes in the past.”. And Zelensky was clearly concerned about the economic collapse in the event of a panic in Ukraine..

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Blinken's explanation and Zelenskiy's skepticism created a pattern that was repeated publicly and privately for months..

“Ukraine could not afford to discard US intelligence data at all. But they believed that “the information was speculative,” the newspaper writes..

Zelensky later recalled hearing US warnings. But, according to him, the Americans did not offer weapons that would help Ukraine defend itself..

" Okay, the invasion can begin.. You give us planes? Will you give us air defense? \? "

According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, the American side did not provide clear intelligence data confirming the warnings, “until the moment when there were 4 or 5 days left before the invasion began.”. Less than two weeks after the meeting in Glasgow, when Kuleba and head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak arrived at the State Department in Washington, a senior US official greeted them with a cup of coffee and a smile.

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“When we smiled back, the official said, “I’m serious. Start digging trenches... You will be attacked. You must prepare for a large-scale attack." When we asked for details, they were not there,” Kuleba recalled..

If Americans were frustrated by Ukraine's skepticism about Russia's plans, Ukrainians were no less annoyed by increasingly public U.S. warnings that an invasion was coming..

“We needed to maintain a balance between realistic risk assessments and preparing the country for the worst…and keep the country economically and financially active. Every comment from the United States about the inevitability of war was immediately reflected in the exchange rate of the Ukrainian currency,” the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry explained..

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The Washington Post writes that a number of U.S. officials dispute the Ukrainian memories, arguing that the government in Kyiv received clear intelligence well before the invasion and when it had already begun.. However, in relations with Ukraine, the behavior of US intelligence can hardly be called completely open.. Officially, American agencies were forbidden to share with Kyiv tactical information that allows the Ukrainian army to attack Russian troops in Crimea or in the occupied part of Donbass.. Ukrainian reconnaissance vehicle was also riddled with Russian moles. And US officials feared sensitive information could end up in Moscow's hands.. When the war began, the Biden administration changed its policy and began sharing information about Russian troop movements.. Because Ukraine was now defending itself against an invasion.