WASHINGTON — CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Russia to hold unspecified talks in Moscow, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
\n\nThe person declined to say whom Ratcliffe was meeting with or what the focus of the talks was. The CIA declined to comment.
\n\nIt’s Ratcliffe’s first known trip to Moscow as CIA director. He made headlines with a visit to Venezuela in January to meet with interim President Delcy Rodríguez about two weeks after the U.S. military seized President Nicolás Maduro in a raid in Caracas.
\n\nHe also traveled to Cuba in May to meet with government leaders. He was the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit the island, which is under severe economic pressure after the U.S. tightened sanctions.
\n\nNews of Ratcliffe’s travel came as mystery swirled around a U.S. military transport aircraft that landed in Moscow, according to tracking data.
\n\nIt was not known who was on board the plane and why it was in Moscow. When asked, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not have information about the aircraft.
\n\nNeither U.S. military officials, the White House, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow nor the Russian Embassy in Washington immediately responded to questions about…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/