CIA chief’s Moscow trip puts NATO concerns in focus
CIA Director John Ratcliffe met Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin during an unannounced visit to Moscow this week, as conflicting accounts emerged over whether he carried a U.S. warning against any Russian move on NATO territory.
Naryshkin, who heads Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), confirmed on Aug. 27 that the two had held a “working-level meeting” and discussed unspecified sensitive matters within the remit of their agencies.
He said there was nothing unusual about the contact.
The visit first came to public attention after flight-tracking data showed a U.S. military C-17 transport aircraft flying from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to Latvia and then Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on Aug. 25.
