CIA director travels to Moscow for unannounced talks

CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow on Tuesday for unannounced talks, a rare high-level U.S. visit to Russia at a time when U.S.-mediated efforts to end the war in Ukraine remain stalled.

People familiar with the matter told CBS News that Ratcliffe was in the Russian capital for meetings. NBC News also reported, citing a person with knowledge of the matter, that Ratcliffe had flown to Russia for talks in Moscow. The person did not say whom Ratcliffe was meeting or what the talks were about.

Neither the U.S. nor Russian governments confirmed the visit, the identity of the U.S. official in Moscow or the purpose of the trip. The CIA declined to comment to NBC News and did not immediately comment to CBS News. The BBC said it had contacted the CIA, the White House and the Pentagon for comment.

News of the trip followed sightings of U.S. military aircraft traveling to Russia and what appeared to be a U.S. diplomatic motorcade in Moscow. CBS News reported that a U.S. Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III transport plane was seen at a Moscow airport along with a diplomatic motorcade. The BBC reported that flight tracking data confirmed a large U.S. military aircraft traveled from the United States to Russia via Latvia, and that social media footage showed a C-17 transport plane approaching Moscow’s Vnukovo international airport. The BBC, citing FlightRadar24 data, said the aircraft left Riga at 05:50 GMT and appeared to land at about 07:04 GMT.

NBC News reported a different account of the aircraft involved, citing a U.S. official who said two planes, a C-130 cargo plane and a C-40, landed in Riga for the same mission before the C-130 continued to Russia. NBC said FlightRadar24 data showed a plane approaching Vnukovo just after 10 a.m. local time, or 3 a.m. ET, after departing Riga two hours earlier. The aircraft had left Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Sunday afternoon just before 5 p.m. ET, according to the tracking data cited by NBC.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not have information about the aircraft when asked, NBC reported. U.S. military officials, the White House, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to NBC’s questions about the flight’s mission.

The visit appears to be Ratcliffe’s first known trip to Russia as CIA director, though he has maintained contact with Russian intelligence counterparts. In-person meetings between senior U.S. and Russian officials are rare.

Ratcliffe has been involved in negotiations over detainees held in Russia. CBS News reported that he personally negotiated the April 2025 release of Ksenia Karelina, a U.S.-Russian dual national. The BBC reported that Karelina, a Russian-American citizen, had been jailed in Russia for more than a year after being accused of providing support to Ukraine. The CIA also took part in the 2024 prisoner exchange that freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan; the BBC also identified Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva as among those released in that swap.

CIA directors have previously served as presidential envoys in sensitive talks with adversaries. Former CIA Director William Burns traveled to Moscow in November 2021, meeting senior Russian officials and speaking directly with President Vladimir Putin to warn him against invading Ukraine. NBC reported that President Joe Biden also used Burns to relay warnings to Russia before and after Putin launched the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Relations between Washington and Moscow have been strained since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The BBC reported that Russia has since faced international isolation and economic sanctions. Ratcliffe’s trip comes after a summit between President Donald Trump and Putin in Alaska last year failed to produce a breakthrough, and subsequent U.S.-led peace talks between Russia and Ukraine appear to have stalled.