Kremlin says CIA head met Russian intelligence officials, but not Putin

The Kremlin says United States CIA Director John Ratcliffe met Russian intelligence officials in Moscow, though he did not speak with President Vladimir Putin.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed the visit to reporters on Wednesday, a day after Ratcliffe arrived in the Russian capital.

He said there were “no meetings of any kind with the Russian president”, but Putin was briefed on the meeting.

Peskov called the talks a “positive development”, but warned it was “too early to say to what extent this will affect the overall process of bringing our bilateral relations out of the deepest crisis they are currently in”.

The visit first came to light after a US Air Force C-17A cargo plane and an American diplomatic convoy were seen at a Moscow airport on Tuesday. US media outlet Axios then reported that the US had given Ukraine advance notice of the delegation and requested a pause in strikes on Russia while it was there.

This marks the first known visit to Russia from a CIA director since 2021, when then-Director William Burns travelled to Moscow.