CIA Director John Ratcliffe makes unannounced visit to Moscow for meetings

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe travelled to Moscow on Tuesday for meetings with Russian officials, according to multiple U.S. media outlets citing unnamed sources and officials familiar with the trip.

CBS News first reported the visit, with Axios, CNN, and others confirming it. Ratcliffe, who previously served as Director of National Intelligence under President Donald Trump and now heads the CIA, arrived for what sources described as talks in the Russian capital. Neither the specific counterparts he met nor the agenda of the discussions has been disclosed. The CIA declined to comment, and the Kremlin initially said it had no information about the associated aircraft arrival.

The visit marks Ratcliffe’s first known trip to Russia in his current role and the highest-level visit by a Trump administration official to the country since special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with President Vladimir Putin in January. It comes as U.S.-brokered efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine remain largely stalled.

A not-so-discreet flight

News of the visit emerged after a U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III (tail number 07-7181, callsign RCH4555/REACH 4555) landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport around 10:00–10:04 a.m. local time on August 25. Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 and reports from Reuters and other outlets showed the aircraft had flown direct from Riga, Latvia. It had arrived in Riga on August 23 after departing from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, near Washington, D.C.—a base commonly used for high-level U.S. government travel.

A U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III has landed at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport.
It flew in from Riga, Latvia, and its flight history includes Camp Springs, Maryland, where Joint Base Andrews is located. That base hosts the aircraft used by the U.S. President.
The purpose… pic.twitter.com/FmsYTVTctR
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) August 25, 2026

Social media footage captured the C-17 on approach, and a U.S. diplomatic motorcade was later reported in Moscow. Sources confirmed Ratcliffe travelled from Riga to Moscow aboard the C-17 after earlier flying from the United States to Latvia on a U.S. government aircraft.

Ukraine asked to pause strikes

Ahead of the trip, the United States informed Ukraine that a senior official would be traveling in Russia and asked Kyiv to suspend drone and missile strikes on Moscow and other northern Russian cities (including reports specifying Moscow and St. Petersburg) for the period covering Monday through Wednesday. A source familiar with the matter told CNN and the Kyiv Independent that the request was made to protect the visit. Ukraine is expected to be debriefed afterward.

The purpose of Ratcliffe’s meetings remains undisclosed. Possible contexts raised by observers include stalled Ukraine peace talks, ongoing intelligence contacts (Ratcliffe has previously spoken with Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin), detainee issues, or broader strategic matters amid concurrent Iran-related tensions. No official statements from Washington or Moscow have clarified the agenda as of Tuesday afternoon.

The rare high-level U.S. intelligence visit underscores continued back-channel engagement between the two countries despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.

John Ratcliffe is a career lawyer and Republican politician with substantial experience in federal law enforcement, congressional oversight, and senior intelligence leadership. He was Director of National Intelligence (2020–2021) and has been CIA Director since January 2025—the first person to hold both posts. He has received the National Security Medal.

Ratcliffe brings more conventional government and national-security credentials than Jared Kushner or Steve Witkoff. He has prosecutorial experience, direct congressional oversight of intelligence matters, and prior leadership of the 18-agency Intelligence Community. Supporters credit him with shifting priorities toward China, expanding certain collection efforts, and managing the CIA through high-tempo operations.

Caption: Official photo of CIA chief John Ratcliffe