The Kremlin has confirmed that CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Russian intelligence officials in Moscow, but did not meet with President Vladimir Putin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the visit to reporters on Wednesday, a day after Ratcliffe arrived in the Russian capital. Peskov said there was no meeting with the Russian president, but that Putin had been briefed on the talks.
Peskov called the talks a positive development but cautioned that it was too early to say how much they would help move bilateral relations out of their current deep crisis.
The visit first came to light after a U.S. Air Force C-17A transport plane and a U.S. diplomatic convoy were spotted at an airport in Moscow on Tuesday. Axios later reported that the U.S. had given Ukraine advance notice of the delegation and proposed a pause in attacks on Russia during its stay.
This marks the first visit by a CIA director to Russia since 2021, when then-Director William Burns traveled to Moscow.
