WASHINGTON. April 15 (Interfax) - White House spokesman Jay Carney has confirmed that U.S. Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan travelled to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, "this weekend".
"We can confirm that the [CIA] director was in Kyiv this weekend as part of trip to Europe," Carney said at a press briefing.
The White House spokesman said that Brennan's visit was intended to broaden cooperation in security issues.
Carney also said that claims of any planned tactical operations were "completely false".
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier that Russia was seeking explanations following reports about the CIA director's recent visit to Kyiv.
Former Ukrainian Security Service head Oleksandr Yakymenko, for his part, believes that Brennan came to Kyiv in order to inform the new Ukrainian authorities of U.S. special services' views concerning the continuing events in the southeast of the country.