MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's foreign intelligence chief, Sergei Naryshkin, held a phone call on Tuesday with the director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, John Ratcliffe, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday. They discussed issues of cooperation between their respective intelligence agencies and crisis management.

The rare exchange between SVR and CIA signals a potential shift in Washington-Moscow relations.

The heads of the U.S. and Russian intelligence agencies spoke by phone and agreed to maintain regular contact in an effort to ease tensions between the two countries, Russian state media reported Wednesday.