CIA Director John Ratcliffe held talks with Russian intelligence services in Moscow on Aug. 25, the Kremlin confirmed, the first known visit by a US spy chief to the Russian capital since William Burns traveled there in November 2021, weeks before the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin did not meet Ratcliffe but was briefed on the contacts, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that it was unclear whether Ukraine or the stalled US-Iran truce were raised. President Donald Trump described the trip as "semi-routine" and tied to ending the Ukraine war.
The visit comes as Russia's summer offensive has driven up Ukraine's civilian death toll, US-brokered peace talks have stalled, and Moscow has offered to mediate between Washington and Tehran. Peskov said it was "too early" to judge the effect on the crisis in US-Russia relations.