CIA chief warned Moscow against escalation toward Baltic NATO states, Politico reports
John Ratcliffe's visit to Moscow comes amid growing concerns over possible Russian actions against NATO countries supporting Ukraine.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow to warn Russia against attacking any NATO members, according to sources familiar with the matter. Ratcliffe also spoke with intelligence officials in Russia about Iran, stating that the US would impose additional sanctions unless the Strait of Hormuz was reopened for shipping, the sources added.
According to a separate source, Trump administration officials had requested Ukraine to cease strikes against Moscow and other cities from Monday to Wednesday. During his visit, Ratcliffe met with Russian intelligence officials but did not have a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, as reported by the Kremlin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed reporters that Putin had been briefed on the outcomes of Ratcliffe's discussions, but did not provide further details.
Peskov also suggested that it was too early to determine if such interactions between the two countries' intelligence agencies could help improve US-Russia relations, which he described as being in a "deep crisis." Reports were contributed by Reuters, The Jerusalem Post, and Amichai Stein.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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