Jump to contentAllNewsSportCultureLifestyleCIA Director John Ratcliffe made a secretive visit to Moscow aboard a US Air Force aircraft on Tuesday, marking the first trip to the Russian capital by a US intelligence chief in nearly five years. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Ratcliffe held talks with Russian intelligence officials, though he did not meet President Vladimir Putin, stating it was too early to determine if relations could recover from a deep crisis. Security experts suggest the unannounced visit was intended to warn Russia against directly testing Nato’s resolve, following recent intelligence reports indicating potential Russian incursions or cyber-attacks against allied nations. Discussions may have also focused on demanding that Moscow cease providing military equipment and intelligence to Iran, as President Donald Trump introduces stricter sanctions against Tehran and its trading partners. Additional speculated topics for the high-level meeting include Russian concerns over US intelligence involvement in Ukraine and potential negotiations regarding future prisoner exchanges. In fullWhy did Trump’s CIA director make a mysterious short trip to Moscow?More bulletinsThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in

It marks the first such visit since the invasion of Ukraine.

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…

The Kremlin insists it has no further information about the landing

Trip would be John Ratcliffe’s first to Russia as director of US intelligence agency

Director John Ratcliffe is known to have a hawkish stance on Russia