CIA director John Ratcliffe made a trip to Moscow on Tuesday for discussions with Russian officials, as reported by various U.S. media sources. This marks the first confirmed visit by a U.S. intelligence chief to the Russian capital since Ratcliffe’s predecessor, William Burns, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in November 2021. Approximately three months after that meeting, Putin initiated Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Reports from CBS News and Axios revealed Ratcliffe’s visit to Moscow, where he serves as CIA chief under President Donald Trump, having previously been the director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term. The specific individuals he met with and the topics of discussion were not disclosed. Additional coverage from ABC News, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal also confirmed the occurrence of the meeting.
While the CIA declined to provide any comments on the matter, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov neither confirmed nor denied the reports, stating that Putin did not have plans for a meeting with Ratcliffe. Last week, the U.S. advised Ukraine against conducting airstrikes around Moscow, St. Petersburg, and certain northern regions of Russia between Monday and Wednesday, as a senior U.S. official was scheduled to fly to Moscow during that period, according to a well-informed source.
The source refrained from sharing further details, with the Financial Times being the first to report on the U.S. communication with Ukraine. On Monday, the U.S. issued warnings to countries to sever business connections with Iran or face secondary sanctions, part of efforts to intensify economic pressure in the ongoing U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran that began in February.
Notably, the absence of a U.S. ambassador to Russia is highlighted, despite Russia’s significant strategic partnership with Iran encompassing extensive military, economic, and diplomatic collaborations. Moscow received drones from Tehran for its conflict in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia in March of providing similar drones to Iran. An intelligence report from Ukraine, cited by Reuters in April, indicated that Russia assisted Iran with satellite imagery for targeting U.S. facilities in the Middle East, a claim Moscow has refuted while expressing readiness to assist in resolving the U.S.-Iran dispute.