US President Donald Trump has stated that "something could come out" of CIA Director John Ratcliffe's unannounced meeting with Russian intelligence officials in Moscow.
Ratcliffe traveled to the Russian capital on Tuesday for an unusual visit that was conducted in secret and lasted only a few hours. The Kremlin later confirmed that the CIA director held contacts with Russian intelligence services but did not meet with President Vladimir Putin.
Trump described the visit as "semi-routine," stressing that the US administration is working to end the war in Ukraine. "Something could come out of this," the US president said, without giving details on the content of the talks.
Although the exact purpose of the meeting has not been made public, the visit has sparked much speculation, particularly due to tensions between Russia and NATO and the stalled diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Ratcliffe had contacts with Russian security services and that Putin was immediately informed of their results. However, he stressed that there was no meeting between Ratcliffe and the Russian president.
Ratcliffe's visit is particularly significant as he is the first CIA director to travel to Moscow since 2021, when his predecessor William Burns held talks with Putin, just months before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
