CIA chief meets Russian intelligence services in first Moscow visit since 2021, Kremlin confirms

CIA Director John Ratcliffe made an unannounced trip to Moscow on August 25, landing aboard a US military C-17 transport plane for direct talks with Russian intelligence officials. It was the first visit by a US spy chief to the Russian capital since William Burns met with Vladimir Putin in November 2021.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the meeting took place but was quick to note that Ratcliffe did not sit down with Putin himself. Putin was, however, briefed on the outcomes of the discussions, according to Peskov.

Ratcliffe arrived and departed Moscow on the same day. The visit did not come out of nowhere. Ratcliffe has maintained ongoing communication with SVR chief Sergei Naryshkin since January 2025, building a back channel between the two countries’ intelligence apparatus even as their governments remain publicly at odds over Ukraine and a range of other issues.

The US reportedly requested that Ukraine pause attacks on Moscow and St. Petersburg around the time of the visit, a detail that underscores how closely the war and intelligence diplomacy are now intertwined.

Peskov’s decision to publicly confirm the visit is itself notable. By confirming the meeting happened at a lower level while noting that Putin was briefed afterward, the Kremlin positions itself as engaged but not eager.

The 2021 Burns visit was different in character. Burns met directly with Putin, a signal at the time that the US was treating the escalation around Ukraine as serious enough to warrant head-of-state-level intelligence engagement. Ratcliffe’s visit, by contrast, stayed within the intelligence services lane.

The use of a C-17 military transport rather than a civilian aircraft removes any ambiguity about the official nature of the visit and ensures that the US military maintained full control over the logistics, security, and communications environment throughout.

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