President Donald Trump, left, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe speak as they depart following a cabinet meeting at Camp David, near Thurmont, Md., Friday, July 31, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)
\n\nThe Kremlin said Wednesday that CIA Director John Ratcliffe held talks in Moscow with his intelligence counterparts, a rare and secretive visit at a time when relations with Washington remain strained over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
\n\nKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ratcliffe did not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was informed of the contacts that were “on the intelligence agencies’ level.”
\n\n“Of course, President Putin is immediately informed of everything,” Peskov added, refusing to say what was discussed.
\n\nRussian state news agencies reported that a U.S. military plane landed in Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on Tuesday and departed later that day.
\n\nU.S. President Donald Trump played down the significance of Ratcliffe’s trip, saying it was “sort of semi-routine.”
\n\n“I hate to disappoint people,” he said on conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck’s radio show Wednesday.
\n\nA senior Ukrainian official told The Associated Press that Washington informed Kyiv a delegation would be traveling to the Russian capital and asked it to suspend strikes until it left. The official said the…
Original source: https://apnews.com/business