&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "CIA director met Russian intelligence officials during secret Moscow trip, but Trump calls it 'semi-routine'")
US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe's secret Moscow trip has led to major speculations. While US media is reporting that Ratcliffe visited Russia to warn Moscow, the Kremlin has said that he made contacts with Russian intelligence. The reported visit was accompanied by the unusual movement of a US government aircraft. Flight-tracking data showed a US military C-17 flying from Joint Base Andrews to Latvia before continuing to Moscow. The aircraft left Riga at around 05:50 GMT and arrived in Moscow at about 07:04 GMT. The same aircraft later departed Moscow after spending roughly 8.5 hours on the ground. Ratcliffe's reported visit is particularly notable because trips by sitting CIA directors to Moscow are rare. The last known visit came in November 2021, when then-CIA director William Burns travelled to the Russian capital and warned President Vladimir Putin and senior officials against invading Ukraine. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine just weeks later.
What Kremlin says?
The Kremlin said that Ratcliffe met Russian intelligence officials in Moscow, though he did not speak with President Vladimir Putin. "There were contacts with the intelligence services," Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "There were no meetings with the president of Russia. That's all I can say on the subject. Naturally, President Putin is briefed immediately about everything," he added. Peskov also called the talks a “positive development”, but warned it was “too early to say to what extent this will affect the overall process of bringing our bilateral relations out of the deepest crisis they are currently in”. At the same time, Peskov said Moscow had no plans to meet US administration representatives this week. "No, there are no such plans," he told reporters at a press briefing on Tuesday when asked about possible talks with US envoys.
What US media reported?
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Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow earlier this week in part to warn Russia not to attack NATO countries, several US media reported. Ratcliffe also brought up Iran during the meetings in Moscow. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the purpose of the trip. The CIA declined to comment on the trip.
What Donald Trump said?
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has said "something may come out of" Tuesday's unannounced meeting between the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and figures from Russia's intelligence services. He described the meeting as "semi-routine", adding that Washington "would like to see the war in Ukraine end".Trump spoke with conservative talk show host Glenn Beck and called the visit "semi-routine". He said he hated "to disappoint people", but that none of the rumours surrounding the visit were accurate.
