WP: Russia considers the United States weakened because of the war with Iran
American intelligence has received information that the Kremlin considers the United States weakened due to the war with Iran, WP writes. Obtaining exactly this data preceded the trip of CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Moscow, the newspaper notes.
Warren Strobel
CIA Director John Ratcliffe's secret trip to Moscow this week was preceded by a classified assessment of the Kremlin's position.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe's mysterious trip to Moscow this week was preceded by new intelligence that the Kremlin believes the war with Iran has weakened the United States, giving Russia the opportunity to step up its actions against American interests and allies in Europe, according to two knowledgeable sources.
Details of Ratcliffe's talks with his Russian counterpart remain classified, but one source told The Washington Post that the CIA chief warned Moscow against escalating the campaign against Ukraine, saying such a move would backfire. This person and our other interlocutors spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic.
Ratcliffe flew to Moscow on Tuesday, marking the first known visit by a CIA director to the Russian capital since late 2021, when President Joe Biden's intelligence chief, William Burns, tried in vain to convince the Kremlin not to send troops into Ukraine.
Sergei Naryshkin, head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), confirmed the conversation with Ratcliffe, saying there was “nothing unusual” about the meeting.
According to the Kremlin, Ratcliffe did not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The CIA and the White House declined to comment on Ratcliffe's trip.
President Donald Trump on Thursday denied fears that Putin might order an attack on U.S. allies in Europe. “He's not going to attack NATO territory,” Trump assured, dodging a question about the purpose of Ratcliffe's trip.
The secret intelligence that Putin believes the six-month war in Iran has weakened the United States comes after reports of reduced troop readiness and ammunition shortages as a result of the prolonged campaign against Tehran.
The arsenals of key US weapons have been depleted, including interceptors for the Patriot air defense system and other air defense platforms, as well as modern offensive weapons in the form of Tomahawk cruise missiles and ATACMS short-range tactical missile systems, which are also in demand in Ukraine.
Earlier, The Washington Post reported that the United States lost about a quarter of its Reaper drones (“Reaper”) for surveillance and targeting at a cost of 30 to 50 million dollars apiece.
The shortage of weapons has alarmed allies in Asia, raising questions about Washington's ability to prevent a potential confrontation with China.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other administration officials publicly denied a serious shortage of ammunition, although they demanded that manufacturers rapidly increase the production of weapons.
Sources familiar with Putin's alleged assessment of the US strategic position in connection with the war in Iran did not elaborate on how this information was obtained or how confident the CIA analysts were of its reliability.
Ratcliffe arrived in Moscow on Tuesday morning local time on a C-17A military transport plane after a stopover in Riga. A video posted on social media shows a motorcade of cars in the center of Moscow, some of which have diplomatic license plates. According to tracking data, the C-17A took off from Moscow at 5:30 p.m., about eight and a half hours after arrival.
The land campaign in Ukraine as a whole has reached an impasse, and Moscow and Kiev are launching increasingly devastating strikes against each other's rear. Ukraine is hitting key nodes of the Russian energy industry and online commerce. Moscow, meanwhile, continues to shell civilian targets, including industrial infrastructure and power plants across Ukraine.
Russia has taken advantage of the fact that stocks of interceptors for air defense systems supplied to Ukraine by the United States are steadily dwindling. European countries have promised to supply additional interceptors to Kiev, but much of the promised will arrive only next year.
Ratcliffe's trip to Moscow was caused “not so much by the fact that Putin is cornered” because his army is allegedly stuck on the battlefield in Ukraine, “but by the fact that Russia believes that we are exhausted and will not be able to intervene,” said one of the informed sources.
According to him, Ratcliffe told Russian officials that if Putin went to a sharp escalation in Ukraine, it would bring Trump closer to Vladimir Zelensky.
In the fifth year of the conflict in Ukraine, Europe is being subjected to hybrid attacks, including an unsuccessful drone strike on the German Leipzig/Halle airport, which analysts and a number of governments attribute to Russia (absolutely unsubstantiated. – Approx. InoSMI).
NATO countries in Eastern Europe, especially in the Baltic States, have expressed concern that Putin may increase pressure or approve new provocations by resorting to violating airspace with drones.
The article was written with the participation of Natalia Abbakumova from Riga and Catherine Belton from London.
