Putin planned to meet with CIA director but decided against it, independent Russian outlet reports
Vladimir Putin was initially prepared to meet CIA Director John Ratcliffe during his visit to Moscow last week and had cleared time for the talks, but decided against the meeting after he was briefed on Ratcliffe’s message, the independent outlet Agentstvo reports, citing a source close to the Kremlin.
According to the source, Ratcliffe urged Russia’s leadership to reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible, arguing that Russia’s military and economic position is deteriorating.
During his trip, Ratcliffe met with Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergey Naryshkin and Federal Security Service (FSB) chief Alexander Bortnikov. Agentstvo’s source said that after one of these meetings, the substance of the conversation was relayed to Putin, and plans for talks between the Russian leader and the CIA director were dropped.
“His message came across as though Zelensky were already standing on Poklonnaya Hill, surveying the Kremlin through binoculars. Everyone understands that isn’t the case,” the source said.
Axios had previously reported that the CIA director proposed holding a summit between Trump, Putin and Zelensky. The Washington Post reported that Washington was concerned the Kremlin might interpret the ongoing US war with Iran and dwindling American weapons stocks as an opportunity for escalation in Europe. According to the paper, Ratcliffe warned the Russian side that a major escalation of the war in Ukraine would backfire and push Trump closer to Zelensky.
The Wall Street Journal and Politico reported that part of Ratcliffe’s mission was to warn Moscow against a possible attack on NATO countries, particularly the Baltic states. Trump, however, denied that Ratcliffe had traveled to Moscow to warn Russia against an attack on NATO or to discuss Iran, describing the trip as “semi-routine”.
The New York Times, meanwhile, wrote that Ratcliffe gave Bortnikov a “bleak assessment” of Russia’s position in the war.
Whatever their focus, the talks came amid fresh escalation in Ukraine. On 22 August, Putin accused Kyiv of “letting the genie out of the bottle” by striking at Russia’s economy, and said it had “received a response”. He said Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure were “effective and appropriately timed”, and dismissed all of Ukraine’s peace proposals as “exotic and unacceptable”.
On 30 August, Russia’s Defence Ministry announced it had begun preparing strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. That warning was followed by a strike that killed 11 people in Kyiv and the surrounding region. Strikes were also reported in the Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Chernihiv regions.