CIA director visited Moscow for ‘contacts between security services,’ Kremlin spokesperson says

CIA director visited Moscow for ‘contacts between security services,’ Kremlin spokesperson says CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow for “contacts between security services,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told The Washington Post when asked about the trip. Peskov offered no further details. Speaking with the Russian state news agency TASS, he said contacts between Ratcliffe and Vladimir Putin “were not scheduled.” CIA Director John Ratcliffe had arrived in Moscow the day before on an unannounced visit. Journalists spotted an American military transport plane landing in the city that morning, and when asked about it, Peskov said the Kremlin “does not have information” about the aircraft and that no meetings with U.S. administration officials were scheduled for the week. One theory holds that Ratcliffe’s visit is tied to the release of Charles Zimmerman, an American convicted in Russia. Another suggests the CIA director came to deliver a “warning” to Putin. At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication. If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected]. To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.