The Wall Street Journal reported that CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a surprise visit to Moscow this week to warn Russia against attacking NATO member states , according to people familiar with the visit.
The newspaper said the visit, Ratcliffe's first publicly known visit to the Russian capital, came in the wake of new US intelligence assessments concluding that Russian President Vladimir Putin may, in the coming years, try to test NATO's willingness to defend one of its member states through a limited attack.
According to the Wall Street Journal, US officials are concerned that Putin might launch an attack ranging from a cyberattack to a limited ground incursion, likely targeting one of the Baltic states.
The newspaper added that shortages of certain ammunition and vital weapons in Western countries, resulting from military spending related to the war in Iran, may be a factor in Putin's calculations. Furthermore, US stockpiles of some weapons have declined due to their transfer to Ukraine following the Russian invasion in 2002, in addition to the repercussions of a war with Iran.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Ratcliffe held talks with Russian intelligence officials during his visit to Moscow, but did not meet with Putin. He added that the Russian president was briefed on those talks.
The newspaper noted that the White House provided few details about the visit. During an interview with conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck, US President Donald Trump described the trip as "almost routine" before turning the conversation to Russia's war in Ukraine, adding, "Something might come of it," and asserting that his administration was working to end the war.
A spokeswoman for the Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment on the visit, while a White House spokeswoman referred reporters to Trump's remarks.
Ratcliffe, one of Trump's closest aides, is the latest high-ranking US official to visit Moscow, following several visits by US envoy Steve Witkopf as part of efforts to negotiate an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The Wall Street Journal noted that Ratcliffe's visit is rare for a US intelligence chief as the Russian-Ukrainian war enters its fifth year. The last known visit by a CIA director to Moscow was in November 2021, when then-director William Burns, during the administration of former President Joe Biden, warned Putin against invading Ukraine.
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