Several American media outlets, citing unnamed sources, reported that the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States, John Ratcliffe, traveled to Moscow on Tuesday, August 25th, to meet with Russian officials. Prior to this, a US military transport plane was spotted landing in Moscow.
According to sources who spoke to CBS News on Tuesday, Ratcliffe is currently in Moscow, Russia for the meeting.
Earlier, witnesses at Moscow airport saw a US Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III transport plane and a US diplomatic convoy.
Both the US and Russian governments have not commented on the identity or purpose of the visit of the American official in Russia. The CIA has declined to comment.
Axios and CNN also cited unnamed sources in reporting about Ratcliffe’s visit.
Flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed that in the early hours of Tuesday, a US military Boeing C-17A Globemaster III transport plane landed at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow. The flight appeared to have taken off from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
A spokesperson for the Latvian Ministry of Defense stated that the flight, which took off from the Latvian capital Riga, had “proper coordination in terms of flight activities in the relevant airspace and was authorized”.
The spokesperson told CNN, “Since the aircraft is not operated by the Latvian National Armed Forces, we cannot provide any further information about this particular flight.”
According to sources who spoke to American media, the US last week requested Ukraine not to carry out airstrikes on Moscow, St. Petersburg, and some northern territories of Russia on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, because a plane carrying senior American officials was scheduled to fly to the Russian capital.
The sources declined to provide more information. The UK’s Financial Times was the first to report on the message conveyed to Ukraine by the US.
The CIA played a role in recent US-Russia detainee exchanges, including the release in April 2025 of dual American-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina. Ratcliffe personally negotiated in this case. The CIA also participated in a 2024 prisoner swap that led to the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and retired Marine Paul Whelan.
On Monday, the US warned that countries should cut their commercial ties with Iran or face secondary sanctions. This move aims to increase economic pressure on the Tehran authorities to resolve the conflict that erupted between the US and Iran in February.
The United States currently does not have an ambassador in Russia, while Russia maintains a close strategic partnership with Iran involving extensive military, economic, and diplomatic connections.