CIA Director John Ratcliffe made an unscheduled visit to Moscow this Tuesday (25). It is the first time that a head of the American agency has gone to Russia since November 2021, months before the start of the war in Ukraine.
According to air tracking data, the US Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III flew from Riga, Latvia, to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, this Tuesday (25). According to the United States Air Force itself, the primary role of the C-17 Globemaster III is to transport troops and cargo.
After much speculation about the identification of the US military plane having landed in the Russian capital, sources interviewed by the television network CBS and the agency Axios reported that CIA director John Ratcliffe could be on board the aircraft. Then, other US outlets reported the same news.
Subsequently, the CIA director’s visit to Russia was confirmed by sources from Alexander Yunashev, who is part of the group of journalists accompanying the Kremlin. According to Yanushev, Russian President Vladimir Putin had a “large-scale event” scheduled for this Tuesday (25), for which “hundreds of people” were preparing, but which was postponed.
“Considering that my sources confirmed that it was the CIA director who flew to Moscow, we can now speculate about the reason for the change in the presidential schedule,” the journalist wrote on his Telegram channel.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier in the day that he had no information about the arrival of the American aircraft at Vnukovo airport.
In May, Dmitry Peskov confirmed that there were contacts between Moscow and Washington intelligence agencies. The director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Serguei Naryshkin, does not exclude the possibility of a personal meeting with John Ratcliffe.
In March 2025, Ratcliffe spoke by phone with Serguei Naryshkin. After the conversation, both agreed to maintain regular contact, including to reduce the level of confrontation.
The move draws attention because direct flights by US-registered aircraft between Europe and Russia are currently extremely rare. It is the first of its kind since January this year, when American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner traveled to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
