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C.I.A. Chief Delivered Bleak Assessment of Russia’s War in Secretive Moscow Visit

John Ratcliffe’s meeting this week with a Russian intelligence chief was aimed at pushing the Kremlin to pursue a peace deal with Ukraine.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, delivered an urgent message to Aleksandr V. Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s F.S.B. intelligence service this week in a secret visit to Moscow.

The Kremlin says the CIA director held talks in Moscow with his intelligence counterparts

26 August 2026 at 20:01
The Kremlin said Wednesday that CIA Director John Ratcliffe held talks in Moscow with his intelligence counterparts, a rare and secretive visit at a time when relations with Washington remain strained over Russia's war in Ukraine.

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