CIA chief secretly met Russian intelligence officials in Moscow
An unnamed U.S. official said the mission was primarily meant to deter escalation against NATO’s Baltic members.
Ratcliffe made the secret trip this week and met Russian officials, including SVR chief Sergei Naryshkin. The trip followed a CIA assessment that Vladimir Putin saw the United States as weakened by the Iran war and might escalate against U.S. interests in Europe. Sources also said Ukraine and Iran were discussed, but those parts of the account rely on unnamed U.S. officials and have not been corroborated by Russian officials, NATO allies or public documents.
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