US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a directive to the United States intelligence community a few weeks ago in which she banned providing information about the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine to US allied partners, CBS News quoted its sources as saying.
The memorandum, dated 20 July and signed by Gabbard, instructed agencies not to share information with the so-called Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance, a post-World War II intelligence alliance made up of the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, several US intelligence officials told CBS News. They spoke on condition of anonymity given sensitive national security issues.
The officials said the directive classified all analysis and information related to the talks between Ukraine and Russian Federation as “NOFORN,” meaning the information could not be shared with any other country or foreign nationals. The only information that could be shared was that which had already been made public
That said, as the publication points out, the memorandum does not appear to prohibit the sharing of diplomatic information gathered by means other than US intelligence, or military operational information unrelated to negotiations, such as details the US shares with the Ukrainian military to assist its defence operations.
There is no explanation as to why this decision was made. CBS News noted that their request was forwarded by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to the White House, which did not provide a response.
US President Donald Trump, who has declared his intention to help end Russia’s war against Ukraine, initiated peace talks on the matter. In particular, on the night of 16 August (Kiev time)there were talks between the US President and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. At a joint press conference following the meeting, Trump and Putin did not announce agreements to end Russia’s war against Ukraine. Trump spoke about agreements on important points, but did not give details.
Later, on 18 August, Trump held talks in Washington with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, after which the US president announced that he was preparing a leaders-level meeting between Ukraine and Russia and admitted that a trilateral summit with his participation would then take place as well.