Moscow confirms visit of CIA Director John Ratcliffe

JUST IN: Moscow confirms CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Russia and held high-level talks with security counterparts, though the Kremlin says he did not meet President Putin.

The CIA Director just flew to Moscow, and the Kremlin is the one telling us about it.

John Ratcliffe held talks with Russian security chiefs on Tuesday, contacts between security services, in the words of spokesman Dmitry Peskov. He did not meet Putin, though the president was informed without delay. Washington, notably, has said nothing at all. The only public trace on the American side was his military plane photographed landing in Latvia before the meetings.

Peskov wouldn't say whether Ukraine came up, and wouldn't promise the talks could pull relations out of what he called a profound crisis. The timing matters though, US and Iran truce talks have stalled, and Moscow has offered to play broker.

And here's what stays with me. The last CIA director to visit Moscow was William Burns, in November 2021. Three months later, Russia invaded Ukraine.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.