CIA Director John Ratcliffe visits Moscow in first such trip since 2021

CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Moscow on August 25 for a day of talks with Russian intelligence officials, making him the first sitting CIA chief to visit the Russian capital since William Burns traveled there in November 2021.

The trip, unannounced beforehand, lasted roughly seven to eight and a half hours. Ratcliffe landed, held discussions, and left the same day.

How the visit unfolded

Ratcliffe’s transport, a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster, departed Joint Base Andrews and made a stopover in Riga, Latvia, before touching down at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport early Tuesday morning.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Ratcliffe held discussions with Russian intelligence services during the visit. However, Peskov was explicit on one point: Ratcliffe did not meet with President Vladimir Putin.

Putin was briefed on the substance of those discussions, according to the Kremlin.

The visit required a notable precondition. The US requested that Ukraine pause attacks on Moscow and St. Petersburg from Monday through Wednesday to create a security window for Ratcliffe’s travel.

A channel that never fully closed

While the in-person visit grabbed attention, the communication line between Ratcliffe and his Russian counterpart has been open for over a year and a half. Since his confirmation in January 2025, Ratcliffe has maintained regular phone contact with Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service.

Burns’s 2021 trip to Moscow came at a time when Washington was trying to communicate red lines ahead of Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine.

What the trip signals

The fact that Washington asked Kyiv to pause strikes on Russian cities for a three-day window reveals something about the current state of the conflict. Ukrainian forces have developed the capability to reach targets in Moscow and St. Petersburg with enough regularity that the US felt a ceasefire request was necessary for the safety of its own intelligence chief.

The Kremlin’s decision to confirm the visit publicly, through Peskov, rather than letting it leak suggests Russia wanted credit for the engagement.

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