Why Did John Ratcliffe Go to Moscow?

CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s brief trip to Moscow yesterday was unannounced but hard to miss: He flew in a C-17A, a large heavy-transport plane, that open-source analysts quickly identified and tracked.

Within hours, he was already on his way home.

The purpose of Ratcliffe’s visit remains unknown.

In an interview with Glenn Beck this morning, President Trump described it as “sort of semi-routine,” but such trips are rare.

The last time a director of the CIA went to Russia was in November 2021, when William J.

Burns told Moscow that the United States knew of Vladimir Putin’s plans to invade Ukraine.

A likelier explanation for this latest trip is that Russia is getting more dangerous and that the Trump administration wanted to warn it against escalating.

Ratcliffe’s visit comes at one of the most difficult periods in the war for the Kremlin.

Thanks to its drone systems, Ukraine has been able to strike military targets and oil infrastructure deep inside Russia while also hindering Moscow’s advance on the battlefield, turning the front into a kill box in which anything that moves is struck within minutes.

Despite making little progress, Russia has continued taking heavy losses.

In May, the Russian death toll reached nearly half a million, according to Anne Keast-Butler, the head of GCHQ, the U.K. intelligence agency.

Russia’s weakness could be making Putin more reckless.

The Wall Street Journal reported a few weeks ago that the U.S. intelligence community is concerned that Russia could carry out a limited attack on a NATO state, possibly even launching a small land incursion.

Such an assault might thwart Russia’s own interests, prompting Europe to accelerate its military buildup and target Moscow’s sovereign assets.