CIA Director John Ratcliffe arrived in Moscow on Tuesday aboard a U.S. military transport plane, Axios and CBS News reported, with sources familiar with the trip saying that the intelligence chief is slated to hold a series of “meetings” in the Russian capital.
News of the rare visit broke just hours after the Kremlin told journalists it had no information about a Boeing C-17 Globemaster landing at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport.
Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the large U.S. military transport plane flew from Joint Base Andrews near Washington, D.C., stopping in Riga, Latvia, on Aug. 23 before continuing to Moscow on Tuesday.
U.S. officials have not officially commented on the visit. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow did not respond to a request for comment.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed the visit in remarks to The Washington Post, saying the purpose of Ratcliffe’s trip was for “contacts between security services.” He did not provide further details.
