Trump downplays CIA chief’s Moscow visit, calling it ‘semi-routine’

US President Donald Trump has downplayed a visit to Moscow by the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, as “semi-routine” after he turned up in the Russian capital unannounced, triggering a wave of speculation about the reasons for his trip, The Guardian writes.

Ratcliffe was reported to have flown to Moscow on a government transport plane on Tuesday in a rare visit after taking off from the Andrews air force base in Maryland.

The White House, CIA, Pentagon and the US air force all declined to comment on the visit, which was confirmed on Wednesday by Kremlin spokesperson Dimitry Peskov.

Interviewed by radio host Glenn Beck, Trump dismissed speculation that Ratcliffe had travelled in response to fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin was planning to “test NATO resolve” or to win Moscow’s cooperation for intensified US sanctions on Iran.

“None of the above,” the US president said in response to Beck.

“He’s there, you know, very sort of semi-routine. I hate to disappoint people. We would like to see the war with Ukraine end,” Trump said.

“John Ratcliffe is a fantastic guy. He’s the head of the CIA, and he is not in there for any of the things that you said. Now something may come … out of it. We’re working very hard to get that war ended, and frankly, they both want to see it ended at this point.”

On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people briefed on the visit, that the reason for the US spy chief’s surprise visit was to warn Russia not to attack NATO countries.

Ratcliffe’s visit was the first from a CIA director since his predecessor Bill Burns travelled to Moscow in November 2021 to warn Putin of the consequences of attacking Ukraine.