CIA chief reportedly warned Moscow against a limited Russian attack on NATO
The surprise visit followed what The Atlantic described as new U.S. intelligence that Putin could test the alliance with a Baltic incursion.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are NATO members. Article 5 treats an armed attack on one ally as an attack on all and requires each member to assist; that assistance is not necessarily military.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe met Russian intelligence officials in Moscow on Tuesday but did not meet President Vladimir Putin, according to the Kremlin. President Donald Trump called the trip “semi-routine” and denied it concerned fears of a Russian test of NATO or sanctions on Iran.
The previous CIA-director visit to Moscow came in November 2021, when William Burns warned against invading Ukraine. Russia began its full-scale invasion about three months later.