A US military transport aircraft mysteriously landed in Moscow on Tuesday, according to tracking data, sparking various rumours as it was not known who was on board the plane and why it was in Russia. The US Air Force transport plane landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, according to data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
However, it was later revealed that the CIA chief was in Moscow for meetings. CIA Director John Ratcliffe is in Moscow for meetings, reported CBS News, citing sources familiar with the situation.
News of the CIA Director’s trip comes after a US Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III transport plane was spotted at a Moscow airport, along with a US diplomatic motorcade. Neither the US nor Russian governments had made any comment on the identity of the US official in Russia or the purpose of the visit.
It appears to be Ratcliffe’s first known trip to Russia as CIA director, though he has maintained contact with Russian intelligence counterparts.
The CIA played a role in recent US-Russia detainee exchanges, including the April 2025 release of a US-Russian dual national, Ksenia Karelina, whose case Ratcliffe personally negotiated. The agency was also involved in the 2024 prisoner exchange that secured the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Marine veteran Paul Whelan.
Earlier, the mystery over US military aircraft’s landing had compounded when the Kremlin said that it had no information about the aircraft.
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Data from the FlightRadar24 tracking site had showed that a Boeing C-17A Globemaster III approached Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow just after 10 am local time after taking off from Riga, the capital of Latvia, two hours earlier.
The flight data also showed that the aircraft arrived in Riga on August 23 from the US Camp Springs airbase near Washington, DC. The flight had left from the US Air Force’s Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Sunday afternoon.
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The Maryland base is the primary military facility that is used by the US president and senior officials for official air travel.
The last time a US-registered flight came directly from Europe to Russia was in January when special envoys Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner landed for Ukraine peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
When asked, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not have information about the aircraft. Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that there were no plans to hold meetings with representatives of the US administration this week.
Theories swirled on arrival of C-17 Globemaster
As the C-17 Globemaster is designed for heavy-capacity, long-distance transport of troops and military equipment, its sudden arrival has fuelled multiple theories.
Some reports speculated about a potential diplomatic or prisoner exchange following the recent high-profile release of former US Marine Robert Gilman and previous exchanges earlier in the year.
The US European Command likewise had no information to offer when approached about the flight-tracking data, reported Newsweek.
No official explanation was given for the aircraft’s passengers, cargo, or mission. The lack of information fuelled theories that the flight could be linked to diplomatic contacts between Washington and Moscow at a time when efforts to advance negotiations over the Ukraine war have slowed.
Reports suggest that Moscow remains open to new US proposals, while Ukraine, Washington, and European officials have been working on a fresh proposal.
