In a highly unusual, off-the-schedule stop that has drawn international attention, CIA Director John Ratcliffe has held direct contacts with Russian intelligence service representatives during a secret visit to Moscow, the Kremlin has officially confirmed. The top U.S. intelligence leader arrived in the Russian capital on Tuesday for what remains one of the highest-profile trips by a senior American official to Russia since the start of Donald Trump’s second presidential term.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov shared limited details with reporters during his regular daily press briefing, confirming that while Ratcliffe held talks with Russian intelligence counterparts, no meeting was scheduled or held with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Naturally, President Putin is briefed immediately about everything,” Peskov added, responding to questions from Russian state outlet Rossiyskaya Gazeta regarding the level of the talks and Putin’s awareness of the meeting. When pressed by BBC Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg for details on the agenda of the closed-door discussions, Peskov declined to share further information.
Peskov noted that it remains far too early to assess what long-term influence this high-level contact will have on the process of mending U.S.-Russia relations, which have been mired in a deep crisis since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Even so, he characterized ongoing dialogue between the two countries’ intelligence agencies as a constructive development. “Contacts between intelligence agencies are a positive phenomenon, a positive process,” he said, adding that such backchannel talks often continue “even during the most difficult moments” in bilateral ties.
This visit marks a rare instance of in-person high-level dialogue between American and Russian officials in recent years. The last time a sitting CIA director traveled to Moscow was November 2021, when then-director William Burns delivered a direct warning to Russian leadership against launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Just weeks after that meeting, the Kremlin moved forward with its military operation, prompting sweeping international sanctions against Russia and a complete breakdown in U.S.-Russia relations.
The most recent high-level diplomatic encounter between the U.S. and Russian leadership came last year, when Trump and Putin held a long-awaited summit in Alaska. However, that meeting failed to produce any major breakthrough in bilateral ties or de-escalate the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Subsequent U.S.-brokered peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow have since stalled, leaving little progress toward a negotiated ceasefire.
A senior Ukrainian official told CBS that U.S. authorities notified Kyiv ahead of Ratcliffe’s trip that a senior American delegation would be traveling to Moscow, and formally requested that Ukraine suspend cross-border strikes targeting Russian positions until the delegation had safely exited Russian territory. The request itself underscores the sensitivity of the unannounced visit, analysts say.
John Foreman, who served as British military attaché to Moscow between 2019 and 2022, told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme that the unannounced, short-notice nature of the trip signals that the U.S. is addressing a matter of significant urgency. “The Americans don’t normally send such a high ranking official to Moscow unannounced at short notice unless something is up,” Foreman said.
As of Wednesday, BBC News has reached out to the CIA, the White House, and the Pentagon for comment on the visit and the details of the talks, with no formal response issued as of publication.