In his Aug. 26 daily press conference, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that CIA Director John Ratcliffe had been in Moscow on Aug. 25, and that “contacts took place through the intelligence services.” Ratcliffe has been in somewhat regular contact with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Naryshkin, with whom he presumably met during the visit.
“I can tell you that there were no meetings with the Russian president,” the spokesman said, though he confirmed that Putin was “immediately briefed on all of this.” Peskov declined to comment on the subject of Ratcliffe’s meetings.
Peskov also stated that there are currently no plans on the Kremlin side for contact between the two presidents.
Speculation about the nature and motivation behind Ratcliffe’s visit abounds, though nothing definitive has been said by either side.
