CIA Chief Secretly Met Russian Intelligence Officials in Moscow: What Was Discussed?
CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a secretive, unannounced trip to Moscow this week to meet with Russian intelligence officials, the Kremlin confirmed Wednesday, in a rare high-level contact between the two countries’ spy agencies as tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine remain unresolved.
A U.S. official familiar with Ratcliffe’s travel told CNN he flew to Moscow overnight Monday, in what marks his first known trip to Russia since becoming CIA director under President Donald Trump. The visit was not announced by U.S. officials and first came to light after publicly available flight-tracking data showed a U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster III transport plane traveling from Joint Base Andrews to the Russian capital.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed Wednesday that Ratcliffe held talks with Russian intelligence officials during the trip but did not meet with Putin, who was briefed on the conversations afterward. Peskov called the talks a “positive development” but said it remained too early to say how much they might help move U.S.-Russia relations out of what he described as their “deepest crisis.” The visit coincided with a phone call between Ratcliffe and Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, reportedly the first direct contact between the two agency chiefs in more than two years. Russian state media reported the two agreed to maintain regular contact going forward.
What Was Actually Discussed?
Neither Washington nor Moscow has disclosed the substance of the talks. The CIA declined to comment on the trip altogether, and Peskov declined to say whether the discussions touched on the stalled Ukraine peace negotiations. U.S. officials reportedly asked Ukraine to pause drone and missile strikes on Moscow and other northern Russian cities from Monday through Wednesday ahead of Ratcliffe’s visit, according to a person familiar with the matter, though it is unclear whether that pause was directly tied to the trip’s purpose.
Asked whether Ratcliffe’s visit was meant to raise concerns about potential Russian moves against NATO territory, Trump said that was not the intent, adding, “John Ratcliffe is a fantastic guy. He’s the head of the CIA, and he is not in there for any of the things that you said. Now something may come out, you know, out of it.” Trump also denied the trip was aimed at securing Russian help reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Andrei Soldatov, a Russian intelligence analyst cited by the Associated Press, said such high-level meetings typically occur only when there is a matter of pressing national security in American interests, and suggested the talks could have involved protecting U.S. personnel or facilities in the Middle East that have come under attack from Iran.
A Rare but Not Unprecedented Channel
Direct contact between CIA and Russian intelligence leadership has occurred sporadically during periods of high tension. In November 2021, then-CIA Director William Burns traveled to Moscow to meet Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, months before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Burns later met Naryshkin in Turkey in November 2022 to warn against any Russian use of a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.
U.S.-Russia relations sank to Cold War-era lows following the 2022 invasion but have shown signs of a partial thaw since Trump’s return to office, including multiple phone calls between Trump and Putin and a summit the two leaders held in Alaska roughly a year ago. Trump reiterated Wednesday his desire to see the Russia-Ukraine war brought to an end.
Peskov said it remained unclear whether Tuesday’s talks would meaningfully affect the broader U.S.-Russia relationship or the stalled Ukraine peace process. Neither government has indicated whether further meetings between Ratcliffe and his Russian counterparts are planned.
