US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe travelled to Moscow on Tuesday for meetings with Russian officials, US media outlets reported, citing unnamed sources.
The trip would be the first known visit to the Russian capital by a US spy chief since Ratcliffe’s predecessor, William Burns, held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in November 2021. About three months after that meeting, Putin launched Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reports Reuters.
CBS News and Axios reported Ratcliffe’s visit. Ratcliffe, US President Donald Trump’s CIA chief, previously served as director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term.
The outlets did not say whom Ratcliffe was meeting or what the talks were expected to cover.
The CIA declined to comment. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov neither confirmed nor denied the report, telling Reuters that Putin did not plan to meet Ratcliffe.
The United States last week asked Ukraine not to launch air strikes around Moscow, St Petersburg and some northern Russian territories on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week because a plane carrying a senior US official would be flying to the Russian capital, a source familiar with the matter said.
The source declined to provide further information. The Financial Times first reported the US message to Ukraine.
The United States warned countries to cut business ties with Iran or face secondary sanctions on Monday, a move aimed at stepping up economic pressure on Tehran to settle the US-Israeli war on Iran launched in February.
The United States has no ambassador to Russia, which maintains a close strategic partnership with Iran involving extensive military, economic and diplomatic ties.
Tehran supplied Moscow with drones for its war against Ukraine. In March, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of supplying its version of those drones to Iran.
A Ukrainian intelligence assessment reported by Reuters in April said Russia had aided Iran with satellite imagery for use in targeting US facilities in the Middle East.
Moscow denies providing such assistance and has said it is ready to help resolve the US-Iran conflict.
