US Senator Richard Blumenthal said Wednesday he hopes CIA Director John Ratcliffe used his rare visit to Moscow to deliver a blunt warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin against any further escalation, as questions continue to surround the purpose of the unannounced trip. “My hope is that he delivered a warning about escalation, namely forget about it. There will be consequences,” Blumenthal told a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The Democratic senator stressed that he had no inside information about Ratcliffe’s mission but said Putin needed to understand that Washington would respond if Moscow pursued the kind of escalation US officials fear he may be considering. “I’m very hopeful that the message was: ‘Don’t do it, forget about it. You’ll have no free shot,’” Blumenthal said. Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow on Tuesday in one of the highest-level visits by a US official to Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The trip was not announced in advance, fueling speculation about its purpose at a time when Russian attacks on Ukraine have intensified and US-brokered efforts to end the war have stalled. US President Donald Trump sought to downplay the significance of the mission Wednesday, describing Ratcliffe’s trip as “semi-routine” while suggesting it was connected to efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.