CIA Director Ratcliffe Secretly Visits Moscow With Warning on Ukraine War

Moscow, Russia. CIA Director John Ratcliffe secretly visited Moscow to deliver a warning from Washington over the war in Ukraine, but the message did not appear to alter President Vladimir Putin’s calculations, according to the Washington Post.

Ratcliffe held talks with senior Russian intelligence officials but did not meet Putin, who was immediately briefed on the contacts, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Secret visit and intelligence talks

Ratcliffe’s trip was the first known visit to Moscow by a CIA director since November 2021, when then-CIA director William Burns travelled to Russia in an effort to prevent the subsequent invasion of Ukraine.

The CIA director met Federal Security Service chief Alexander Bortnikov and Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergei Naryshkin. The visit took place under strict secrecy.

According to the Washington Post, Ratcliffe warned that further escalation of the war in Ukraine could backfire on Russia and move US President Donald Trump closer to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s position.

US assessment of Russian calculations

The Washington Post reported that Ratcliffe’s mission followed a classified US assessment concluding that the Kremlin considers the United States militarily and politically weakened by its involvement in the war with Iran.

The assessment said depleted US stocks of critical weapons systems, including Patriot and Tomahawk missiles, had reinforced Moscow’s view that Washington had limited capacity to respond to a further Russian escalation.

According to the report, Putin believes the current situation offers an opportunity to increase pressure on Ukraine and Europe. Rather than retreating after US warnings, he is preparing to appear alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and meet leaders with close or strategic ties to Moscow.

Call for negotiations

The Kremlin’s approach reflects an effort to maintain direct communication channels with Washington through intelligence services while demonstrating its diplomatic ties beyond the United States, the Washington Post reported.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that Ratcliffe presented Russian officials with a bleak assessment of Russia’s military and economic position, arguing that Moscow should enter serious negotiations to end the war before its position worsens.

US officials said Russian forces had suffered heavy casualties without corresponding territorial gains. Ratcliffe also reportedly questioned whether Putin’s aides were providing him with a complete and accurate picture of conditions on the front line.