The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, warned Russia against attacking NATO allies during a visit to Moscow, the Wall Street Journal and Politico reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.
Ratcliffe visited the Russian capital on Tuesday, but little was known about the substance of his talks.
Politico reported that Ratcliffe's warning focused on a potential escalation involving NATO's eastern allies in the Baltic region. He also urged the Kremlin to scale back its military and financial support for Iran, the report said.
US President Donald Trump confirmed Ratcliffe's visit during a radio programme hosted by conservative presenter Glenn Beck, but denied that the trip had been in the context of a possible move by Russia against NATO, or the Iran conflict. According to Trump, Ratcliffe's visit had been "semi routine."
"We would like to see the war with Ukraine end," he added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed, according to Russian news agencies, that Ratcliffe had travelled to Moscow for talks "between security services." Peskov, a close aide to President Vladimir Putin, stressed that Putin had not met with Ratcliffe.
The visit was likely Ratcliffe's first to Moscow as CIA director. The last known visit by a CIA head to Russia was in 2021, when then-director William Burns travelled to Moscow and met Putin.
Burns had been sent by then-US president Joe Biden to help prevent an escalation in the Ukraine conflict. Putin nevertheless launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
