CIA director visited Russia for “contacts between intelligence services,” Kremlin spokesman says

CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Russia on Aug. 25 to “establish contacts between security services,” according to Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov, who added that Ratcliffe did not meet personally with Putin. However, the day before, Kremlin pool correspondent Alexander Yunashev claimed that Putin had had to change his schedule because of the visit.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe arrived in Moscow on Tuesday, Aug. 25. At the time, the Kremlin stated that it had no information regarding the U.S. Air Force plane that landed at Vnukovo and that it had no plans to meet with representatives of the U.S. administration.

The exact reason for Ratcliffe’s visit remains unknown. According to one version, his trip may be related to the release from a Russian penal colony of American Charles Wayne Zimmerman, who was convicted of firearms smuggling. According to another, Ratcliffe intended to deliver a warning to Putin based on new U.S. intelligence.

The last time a CIA Director visited Moscow was in November 2021, when William Burns held a phone call from the Kremlin with Putin, who was in Sochi at the time.