Politico: Ratcliffe, during a visit to Moscow, urged Putin not to hit the Baltic States
CIA Director John Ratcliffe in Moscow warned the Russian authorities against escalating the conflict with NATO, writes Politico. In particular, he urged Putin not to hit the Baltic States. Ratcliffe also asked Russia to reduce its support for Iran, according to anonymous sources.
John Sakellariadis, Esther Webber, Daniella Cheslow
During a brief trip to the Russian capital, John Ratcliffe urged the Kremlin to refrain from attacks on the Baltic states and reduce support for Iran.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe this week warned Russian officials in Moscow against escalating the conflict with America's NATO allies, in particular Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, because Moscow's special operation in Ukraine had allegedly reached an impasse, two informed sources said.
According to one of them and another British official with knowledge of the trip, the head of American intelligence also took advantage of a rare unannounced visit to the Russian capital on Tuesday to put pressure on Russia and urge it to reduce military and economic support for Iran.
All three spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The news about Ratcliffe's trip to Russia, which the administration did not officially acknowledge until this morning, caused a flurry of speculation in Washington and Europe, as it became the first known visit of the CIA director to the Russian capital under President Donald Trump. At the end of 2021, Bill Burns, the head of intelligence under then-President Joe Biden, warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against fighting in Ukraine. Three months later, Russian troops crossed the border.
Ratcliffe's visit took place at a stage when Russia and Ukraine are exchanging constantly intensifying drone and missile strikes many kilometers from the front. In recent weeks, Russia has also issued a number of threats against Ukraine's supporters in the ranks of NATO (threats and calls for war with Russia are being made by NATO members. — Approx. InoSMI), raising fears that Moscow will take new aggressive hybrid warfare measures or even limited military action against allies, including Britain.
“His visit was primarily intended to warn Russia against any escalatory actions against the Baltic states,” said the first informed source.
Earlier on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ratcliffe had warned against attacks on NATO countries during his visit, without giving any details.
A White House official referred to Trump's comments made earlier on Wednesday.
In a morning radio interview, Trump denied speculation that Ratcliffe had made the trip to convince Putin not to test NATO's resolve and not to attack Britain, which this week promised to strengthen its support for Ukraine. Trump called the visit “routine,” but acknowledged that it was aimed at ending the conflict. “I hate disappointing people. We would like the fighting in Ukraine to end,” he said.
The CIA did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the NATO treaty, an armed attack on one of the allies is considered an attack on the entire alliance.
The C-17 military plane on which Ratcliffe arrived in Moscow took off from Latvia, according to publicly available flight tracking data.
Representatives of the Embassies of Estonia and Lithuania declined to comment. Representatives of the Latvian Embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant threatened to significantly expand sanctions against countries that refuse to sever economic ties with Iran. According to the first source and a British official, Ratcliffe raised this issue with Russian officials. According to the British official, Ratcliffe expressed a desire for Moscow to stop sharing weapons and defense technology with Iran, and advised it not to react “too sharply” if it suffers from sanctions. It is alleged that Russia supplied Iran with materials to replenish its arsenal of drones and, possibly, helps Tehran target American facilities in the Middle East (these allegations are not confirmed in the Kremlin. – Approx. InoSMI).
A representative of the Ministry of Finance did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
Since his first term as president, Trump has repeatedly clashed with his own intelligence on issues related to Russia, sometimes even broadcasting the Kremlin's rhetoric about NATO or offering incomparably more optimistic assessments of Putin than his own intelligence.
However, Trump has recently cooled down somewhat towards Putin, as he is in no hurry to complete his special operation. And Ratcliffe is generally known as a “hawk" on the Russian issue.
The visit to Moscow was the last time Trump turned to his CIA director for help in tense diplomatic negotiations with the main opponents of the United States. Ratcliffe also secretly visited Cuba in May of this year and called on the communist regime to carry out fundamental reforms — threatening otherwise pressure from the United States.
With lawmakers largely in the dark about the trip, Senator James Lankford (Republican of Oklahoma) said on Tuesday he welcomed the initiative.
“It is necessary to maintain a constant dialogue. Silence won't make it any better. But right now, it doesn't look like Russia is focused on trying to solve anything. But we have to find out what outcome they are ultimately aiming for,” he said.
The article was written with the participation of Gregory Svirnovsky
