US CIA Director John Ratcliffe visits Moscow for first time since war began

The Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Ratcliffe made his first unannounced visit to Moscow since the start of the war.

He flew from Riga on the morning of August 25 on a Boeing C-17 military transport aircraft belonging to the US Air Force and landed at Vnukovo Airport. At about 19:00, it became known that the American plane carrying Ratcliffe turned back from Moscow.

This is the first visit by the head of the CIA to Moscow since 2021. At that time, the previous head of the agency, William Burns, visited Moscow against the backdrop of the massing of Russian troops near the borders of Ukraine. Ratcliffe's visit this time is the first visit by a representative of the US administration to Russia since January 2026.

The purpose of Ratcliffe's visit is unknown. The CIA director's trip was not officially announced. The Kremlin, however, said it knew nothing about the American plane at Vnukovo and that no meetings with representatives of the American administration were planned this week. According to Kremlin correspondent Alexander Yunashev, due to Ratcliffe's visit, Vladimir Putin changed his schedule and canceled a major event scheduled for August 25. Axios noted that Ratcliffe went for negotiations. It is not known with whom and what he was talking about.

According to one version, his visit may be connected with the release of American Charles Zimmerman, who was convicted in Russia. Ksenia Sobchak wrote about this on her Telegram channel without specifying the source of the information. If so, Zimmerman will be the second US citizen to be pardoned and repatriated by the Russian government in a month. The first was Robert Gilman. His return without a prisoner exchange was seen as a possible preparation for a new round of peace talks between Moscow and Kiev with the participation of the American side.

According to another version, Ratcliffe discussed some kind of "important operation" in Moscow. This was reported by the Ukraine Context Telegram channel, which is close to the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration Kirill Budanov. The channel's authors claim that we are talking about an operation that was "prepared in secret for some time" and "the results of which could be of serious importance for further processes."

The third version is that Ratcliffe went to deliver a "warning" to Putin. This version was put forward by The Wall Street Journal. According to the newspaper, US intelligence has collected information that Russia has begun to prepare for mobilization to continue the war with Ukraine and may be planning to "test NATO's resolve" by organizing provocations against the alliance's member states. The publication also speculates that the visit could be related to the war between the United States and Iran. Russia is an ally of Tehran. A day earlier, Washington announced a new campaign of economic pressure against its enemy.