Scott Ritter: The CIA never comes to Russia in peace

Ratcliffe’s Moscow visit may be framed as routine, but it came from an agency still deeply involved in killing Russians and guiding Ukraine CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow last week.

What we know: Ratcliffe met with Sergey Naryshkin, the director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service.

This has been confirmed by Naryshkin himself, who described the meeting as “routine.” We also know that the US spy chief did not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The meeting took place, there is nothing unusual in this,” Naryshkin stated afterwards.

“In the practice of special services, meetings of managers, personal meetings or online are part of our work.

So, the meeting with John Ratcliffe is a working format.” Naryshkin refused to state what issues were discussed, explaining that they were within the competence of the intelligence services.

“And the competence of the intelligence services is such a rather delicate and special thing,” the Russian spy chief said.

What we don’t know: literally anything else.

Rumors abound about additional attendees, as well as the agenda – or lack thereof – that was pursued by Ratcliffe during a meeting which appeared to be anything but routine.

But the fact is, any meeting between Ratcliffe and Naryshkin, given the nature of the times we live in, could never be described as “routine.” A quick reminder: John Ratcliffe’s CIA is currently at war with Russia.

Literally.

Ratcliffe assumed his current position on January 23, 2025.

Prior to this, he did a short stint as national intelligence director during the last year of Trump’s first term in office.

He was a Texas congressman for a few years, as well as a small-town mayor and acting US attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.