CIA Director John Ratcliffe in Moscow

The story so far

As of August 25, 2026

CIA Director John Ratcliffe is in Moscow for unannounced meetings. Neither Washington nor Moscow has said whom he will meet or what is on the table. It is his first known trip to Russia as CIA director.

His arrival was tied to a U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster III that flew from Riga to Vnukovo Airport, where a U.S. diplomatic motorcade was seen. Russian authorities have not provided details about the visit. The use of a military transport alongside public silence signals a tightly controlled, high-sensitivity engagement.

The United States asked Ukraine to pause drone and missile strikes in Moscow and other northern Russian cities from Monday through Wednesday to create a quieter window around the trip. That request shows Washington moved to lower the risk of an incident while its top intelligence official is in the Russian capital, and that the meetings are being treated as important enough to adjust military activity elsewhere.

Where it stands: the director is in Moscow, meetings are under way or imminent, and there is no public account of their agenda or outcome. The clearest facts so far are the first visit, the use of a military transport, the pause request to Ukraine, and the silence from both governments. Together they point to a narrow, security focused channel being used at a tense moment rather than a routine diplomatic call.