US Intelligence Director Visits Russia in First Public Trip Since 2021
Axios and CBS News reported, citing sources, that U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Russia on Tuesday for meetings with officials there.
This would be the first publicly announced visit by a U.S. intelligence chief to the Russian capital since Ratcliffe’s predecessor, William Burns, held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in November 2021.
About three months after that meeting, the Russian president launched an invasion of Ukraine.
Ratcliffe served as Director of National Intelligence during Trump’s first term. Neither Axios nor CBS disclosed the names of the officials Ratcliffe would meet or the topics to be discussed. The CIA declined to comment. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov neither confirmed nor denied the report, telling Reuters that President Vladimir Putin does not intend to meet Ratcliffe.
A source familiar with the matter said that the United States requested that Ukraine refrain from conducting air raids around Moscow, St. Petersburg, and some areas in northern Russia on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week, because a plane carrying a senior U.S. official was heading to the Russian capital.
The source declined to provide further details. The Financial Times was the first to report the U.S. message to Ukraine. On Monday, the United States warned countries against continuing trade relations with Iran, or they would face secondary sanctions, in a move aimed at intensifying economic pressure on Tehran to end the war launched by the United States and Israel in February.
The United States has no ambassador to Russia, which maintains a close strategic partnership with Iran encompassing extensive military, economic, and diplomatic ties.
An assessment by Ukrainian intelligence, cited by Reuters in April, stated that Russia assisted Iran by providing satellite imagery for use in targeting U.S. facilities in the Middle East.
Moscow denies providing such assistance and says it is ready to help resolve the conflict between the United States and Iran.
