CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s surprise visit to Moscow earlier this week was to warn Russia against attacking NATO allies. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 27 (UPI) -- CIA Director John Ratcliffe's surprise visit to Moscow earlier this week was to warn Russia against attacking NATO allies.
Ratcliffe made his first publicly known trip to Moscow after a U.S. intelligence report determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin may order an attack on a NATO country, The Wall Street Journal, POLITICO and CBS News reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
The national intelligence assessment found that Putin may attempt to test the mettle of a NATO member within the next few years with a small-scale attack, land incursion, cyberattack or assault similar in scale. The most likely targets were reported as those on the Baltic Sea.
Putin's decision to strike has also been influenced, reportedly, by the United States diminishing its stockpiles fighting the war in Iran. This has left NATO allies vulnerable to potential aggression by Moscow.
