Moscow Confirms Visit of CIA Director John Ratcliffe

The Kremlin confirmed that U.S. foreign intelligence chief John Ratcliffe held a series of high-level discussions in Moscow on Tuesday. However, Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied reports that Ratcliffe met directly with President Vladimir Putin.

Peskov stated that Ratcliffe engaged in "contacts between security services" during his visit. He assured that President Putin was "informed without delay" about the substance of these talks, though he did not attend the meetings himself. Peskov expressed uncertainty about whether these discussions could help resolve the current "profound crisis" in U.S.-Russian relations and declined to confirm if the invasion of Ukraine was a topic of conversation.

The visit by the CIA director comes at a time when truce negotiations between the United States and Iran have reportedly stalled. Moscow had previously offered its services as a mediator in that conflict. This marks the first visit by a CIA director to Moscow since Ratcliffe's predecessor, William Burns, traveled there in November 2021, just three months before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Multiple U.S. media outlets reported on Ratcliffe's trip, though the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had not yet issued a comment. Photos circulating showed Ratcliffe's military plane landing in Latvia shortly before the meetings.