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CIA director makes unannounced visit to Russia

The Hill · back to the audit

CIA Director John Ratcliffe made an unannounced visit to Moscow on Tuesday for meetings with Russian officials, CBS News reported. Flight trackers spotted a U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III transport plane flying from Riga, Latvia, to Moscow on Tuesday. The CIA and the White House did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment. The visit is Ratcliffe's first known trip to Russia since being confirmed as the CIA director in early 2025. Ahead of Ratcliffe's visit, the Trump administration asked Ukrainian officials last week not to strike Moscow, St. Petersburg and northern regions of the country with its long-range drones and missiles Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, as the U.S. would dispatch a senior official to Moscow, the Financial Times reported. Ratcliffe's plane was spotted departing Moscow around noon, according to flight-tracking data. Recent U.S. intelligence reports posited that Russian President Vladimir Putin could attempt to test NATO with a limited assault on a member nation in the next few years, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month. Ratcliffe's visit also comes as the U.S.-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine to end the war in eastern Europe appear to be stalled. Former CIA Director William Burns traveled to Russia in November 2021, during which he met with Russian officials and warned Putin against invading Ukraine.