CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a secret trip to Moscow on August 25 aboard a US military C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, spending roughly eight hours on the ground. This visit, the first by a serving CIA director since November 2021, was aimed at delivering two key messages: a warning against Russian military actions targeting NATO territory and a request for Moscow to reduce its support for Iran. The Kremlin confirmed the visit, describing it as contacts between security services, without acknowledging any meeting with President Putin. The choice of intelligence channels rather than formal diplomatic channels suggests the US wanted to communicate with a degree of deniability and discretion that formal diplomatic channels do not provide.
Source: Read the original article
