Russia Says No Putin Meeting Planned During CIA Director's Moscow Visit
The Kremlin says the CIA director’s talks in Moscow focused on coordination between US and Russian intelligence agencies, while no meeting with President Vladimir Putin was planned.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s visit to Moscow was linked to coordination between US and Russian intelligence agencies, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, providing details of a rare visit amid continued diplomatic activity between Washington and Moscow.
Peskov told The Washington Post that Ratcliffe’s discussions were conducted exclusively within the framework of relations between the two countries’ intelligence agencies.
The Kremlin spokesperson also told Russia’s TASS news agency that there were no plans for Ratcliffe to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin during the visit.
The visit followed the arrival of a US Boeing C-17A Globemaster III military transport aircraft at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport at 10 a.m. local time on Tuesday.
The aircraft had departed from Joint Base Andrews near Washington, which is designated for travel by senior US officials.
According to the information provided, this was the first time since 2017 that an aircraft of this type had landed in Moscow.
Meanwhile, US Representative Anna Paulina Luna expressed support for Ratcliffe’s visit in a post on X.
“The director of the Central Intelligence Agency is doing important work in the interest of the United States,” Luna wrote.
Separately, Russia and Ukraine are engaged in negotiations over the exchange of prisoners of war, according to TASS.
Yana Lantratova, Russia’s commissioner for human rights, said the discussions were part of continuing humanitarian contacts between Moscow and Kyiv and described the process as broad.
The Ukrainian side has not so far released official information detailing the talks.
Since Russia launched its military offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, the two countries have exchanged thousands of prisoners of war through several separate processes.
In May, an agreement mediated by the United States was reached for each side to exchange 1,000 prisoners. The process was described as one of the key outcomes of peace negotiations between the two countries.
Ratcliffe’s Moscow visit comes against the backdrop of continued intelligence contacts between Washington and Moscow and ongoing humanitarian discussions between Russia and Ukraine over prisoner exchanges.