CIA chief met Russian intelligence services but not Putin, Kremlin says

CIA Director John Ratcliffe made an unannounced trip to Moscow on Tuesday, the Kremlin confirmed, noting that he met with Russian intelligence services during the visit. "There were contacts with the quality services," Vladimir Putin's property secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters. He emphasized that there were no meetings with the Russian president. "There were nary meetings with the president of Russia. That's each I tin accidental connected the subject. Naturally, President Putin is briefed instantly astur everything," helium added. Peskov made the remarks in response to a question from a Rossiyskaya Gazeta journalist at his regular press briefing, who asked whether President Putin had been informed of the CIA chief’s meetings and "at what level" they were held. When asked by BBC Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg about the subject of the talks, Peskov replied, "I person thing to adhd to what I've already said connected the subject," Peskov replied. He said it was too early to assess what impact the encounter might have on efforts to repair bilateral relations. "It was excessively aboriginal to accidental what interaction this gathering would person implicit repairing bilateral US Russian relations, helium said." He continued, "How overmuch this volition interaction the wide process of recovering our bilateral relations from the profound situation they're presently in, it is premature to say." Nonetheless, Peskov characterized intelligence‑to‑intelligence contacts as constructive. "But contacts betwixt quality agencies are "a affirmative phenomenon, a affirmative process," Peskov added, saying they often proceed "even during the astir hard moments" successful relations betwixt the 2 countries." The visit marks Ratcliffe as one of the highest‑ranking U.S. officials to travel to Russia during President Donald Trump’s second term. In‑person meetings between senior American and Russian officials remain infrequent. The last CIA director to go to Moscow was William Burns in November 2021, when he warned Russia against deploying troops into Ukraine. Weeks later, Moscow launched its full‑scale invasion. Since then, U.S.–Russia relations have deteriorated, leaving Russia isolated internationally and subject to broad economic sanctions. Although Trump met President Putin at an Alaska summit last year, that encounter yielded no breakthrough, and subsequent U.S.–led peace talks between Russia and Ukraine appear to have stalled. Prior to Ratcliffe’s trip, Washington informed Kyiv that a senior delegation would be traveling to Moscow and urged Ukraine to halt strikes until the delegation departed, a senior Ukrainian official told CBS. John Foreman, who served as a British defence attaché to Moscow from 2019 to 2022, told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, "The Americans don't usually nonstop specified a precocious ranking authoritative to Moscow unannounced astatine abbreviated announcement unless thing is up." BBC News has sought comment from the CIA, the White House and the Pentagon.