CIA Director John Ratcliffe has reportedly travelled to Moscow for unannounced talks, according to the BBC’s US news partner CBS.
Ratcliffe reportedly arrived in the Russian capital on Tuesday aboard a US military aircraft, although Washington and Moscow have not confirmed the visit or disclosed who he was due to meet.
The reported trip would be unusual, as in-person meetings between senior American and Russian officials have become rare since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
US Military Aircraft Travelled to Moscow
Flight-tracking data showed a large US military aircraft travelling to Russia from the United States via Latvia on Tuesday. The C-17 transport aircraft reportedly departed Riga at about 05:50 GMT and appeared to land at Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport at around 07:04 GMT, according to FlightRadar24 data.
It later left Moscow and returned to Riga shortly before 17:00 GMT. Footage shared on social media appeared to show the aircraft approaching Vnukovo airport, while other footage purported to show a diplomatic motorcade travelling through Moscow. The BBC said it had contacted the CIA, White House and Pentagon for comment.
Ukraine Reportedly Asked to Suspend Strikes
A senior Ukrainian official told CBS that the United States had informed Kyiv ahead of the trip that a senior delegation would be travelling to Moscow. According to the official, Ukraine was asked to suspend strikes while the US delegation was in Russia.
The reported visit is believed to be Ratcliffe’s first trip to Russia since becoming CIA director, although he has maintained contact with Russian intelligence counterparts. John Foreman, who served as Britain’s military attaché in Moscow from 2019 to 2022, said the unusual nature and timing of the trip suggested that an urgent issue could be involved.
“The Americans don’t normally send such a high ranking official to Moscow unannounced at short notice unless something is up,” Foreman told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme.
US-Russia Relations Remain Strained
Relations between Washington and Moscow have remained deeply strained since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia has faced extensive international sanctions and diplomatic isolation, while US-led efforts to broker an end to the war have so far failed to produce a lasting breakthrough.
Ratcliffe’s reported visit would make him one of the highest-ranking US officials known to have travelled to Russia during Donald Trump’s second presidential term.
Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Alaska last year, but the meeting failed to produce a breakthrough. Subsequent US-led negotiations involving Russia and Ukraine have also appeared to stall.
For now, the precise purpose of Ratcliffe’s reported Moscow visit remains unclear, and neither the CIA nor the Russian government has publicly confirmed the details of the talks.
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