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Ratcliffe in Moscow
CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow for unannounced talks, with U.S. media reporting the visit and neither Washington nor Moscow confirming the nature of the meetings or who he was due to meet.
“John Ratcliffe reportedly arrived in the Russian capital earlier on Tuesday”
BBC reported that flight tracking data confirmed a large U.S. military aircraft traveled to Russia from the U.S. via Latvia on Tuesday, and it departed later on Tuesday after footage showed the C-17 transport plane approaching Moscow’s Vnukovo international airport.
Reuters said the visit would be the first known trip to the Russian capital by a U.S. spy chief since Ratcliffe’s predecessor, William Burns, held talks with Vladimir Putin in November 2021.
CBS News reported that sources familiar with the situation told it Ratcliffe was in Moscow for meetings, while the CIA did not immediately comment and neither the U.S. nor Russian governments commented on the identity of the U.S. official or the purpose of the visit.
What the trip could mean
John Foreman, who served as a British military attaché to Moscow between 2019 and 2022, told Radio 4’s PM programme that the visit could be focused on "escalation management" given speculation recent drone activity in Germany could be linked to Russia.
Foreman added, "The Americans don't normally send such a high ranking official to Moscow unannounced at short notice unless something is up," as BBC described the trip as rare for high-level in-person talks between American and Russian officials.
CNN reported that the U.S. asked Ukraine to halt drone and missile strikes in Moscow and other cities in the north of Russia ahead of Ratcliffe’s trip, with the request for Monday through Wednesday of this week.
CNN also said the Ukrainians were told a senior U.S. official would be traveling in Russia, while a U.S. official familiar with Ratcliffe’s travel declined to share the substance of the meetings or the topics set to be discussed.
Detainees, sanctions, and risk
Ratcliffe’s trip arrived as U.S.-Russia detainee exchanges and prisoner swaps remained part of the backdrop, with BBC noting he played a role in negotiations for the release of Russian-American citizen Ksenia Karelina and the CIA’s involvement in a 2024 prisoner swap that saw the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. marine Paul Whelan, and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.
“the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich”
CBS News said Ratcliffe’s visit also came as recent U.S. intelligence assessments indicated that Putin’s risk calculus may be shifting, with the Russian leader potentially increasingly willing to authorize provocative actions against NATO members, including hybrid operations and other deniable measures short of conventional military action.
Reuters reported that on Monday the U.S. warned countries to cut business ties with Iran or face secondary sanctions, aimed at stepping up economic pressure on Tehran to settle the war that Trump launched in February, and Reuters added that Tehran supplied Moscow with drones for its war against Ukraine.
Reuters also said the U.S. has no ambassador to Russia, while Russia maintains a close strategic partnership with Iran involving extensive military, economic and diplomatic ties, and it reported that Moscow denies providing satellite imagery for targeting U.S. facilities and has said it is ready to help resolve the U.S.-Iran conflict.