CIA Director John Ratcliffe may have discussed European security and the situation in Iran during his visit to Moscow. However, given the lack of publicly available information, the visit cannot be interpreted as a sign that Russia intends to escalate the security situation in Eastern Europe or within NATO, Jānis Sārts, Director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, told the LETA news agency.
Sārts stressed that talks at this level take place frequently, particularly in Moscow, which, as is well known, has previously been visited by US President’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
The fact that the CIA Director visited Moscow could suggest that the trip was less likely to have been about peace plans for Ukraine and more likely related to information that Washington wanted to convey through trusted intelligence channels, Sārts said.
“I think that, one way or another, it is definitely connected to the international security situation. Whether it concerns what is happening in Iran or issues related to European security. Most likely, both of these topics were discussed,” Sārts stressed.
“Should we be concerned about it?
First, it is good that the United States still has the ability to convey a message to Russia.
Second, the US may have proposals compelling enough to potentially change Russia’s thinking about the actions it is planning,” Sārts said.
At the same time, Sārts noted that tensions have not diminished. Commenting on public speculation about a possible Russian attack on NATO, he pointed out that attacks can take different forms. An attack similar to the one launched in February 2022 is not currently possible, but attacks could also take the form of sabotage or acts of terrorism. This, in turn, poses a challenge as to how NATO would respond.
Sārts does not believe that the visit can be interpreted as a sign that Russia intends to escalate the security situation in Eastern Europe or within NATO.
“We cannot interpret it in that way because we simply do not have enough information. What we can see is that talks are taking place. A visit by an official of this level most likely means serious discussions related to security. The talks were almost certainly connected to current issues,” Sārts stressed.
Former Commander of the Latvian National Armed Forces
Raimonds Graube declined to speculate to LETA about the reasons for the CIA Director’s visit,
saying there were too many unknowns. At the same time, he believes Ratcliffe brought important information to the Russians, as an official of this rank would not fly to Moscow for no reason.
Meanwhile, Riga may have been chosen as the departure point for the flight to Moscow “purely and simply for logistical reasons,” including aircraft refuelling.
The purpose of CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s visit to Moscow was “contacts between intelligence services,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Speaking to Russian media on Wednesday,
Peskov said Ratcliffe had not met Russian President Vladimir Putin and provided no further details about the talks.
This was most likely Ratcliffe’s first visit to Moscow since becoming CIA Director. His predecessor, William Burns, travelled to Russia in November 2021 at the request of then-US President Joe Biden and met Putin in an effort to prevent an escalation of the situation surrounding Ukraine.
Three months later, in February 2022, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Even after the invasion began, contacts continued between representatives of US and Russian intelligence services and military officials.
No further details about the purpose of Ratcliffe’s visit have been disclosed. There was widespread speculation that he may have sought to warn Russia against further escalation in the war in Ukraine.
A US military aircraft flew from Riga to Moscow on Tuesday morning and returned later that evening. No Ukrainian drone attacks were reported in Moscow that day. US media reported that Washington had asked Kyiv to temporarily suspend such attacks.
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