The United States recorded CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s visit to the White House after his visit to Moscow; the relevant photos were published by freelance photographer Andrew Leyden on X, UNN reports.
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"Secretary of War Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Kane, and CIA Director Ratcliffe are leaving the West Wing after a meeting at the White House. Ratcliffe returned from Russia late yesterday evening," Leyden wrote in the caption to the photo.
U.S. President Donald Trump, as reported by the BBC, said that "something may come of" Tuesday’s unannounced meeting between the head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and representatives of Russian intelligence services.
The U.S. president did not disclose what was discussed during the unusual talks, but called the meeting "semi-routine," adding that Washington "would like the war in Ukraine to end."
The last similar meeting took place months before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin said that Ratcliffe had not met with Kremlin head Vladimir Putin. "There were contacts with intelligence services," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
According to Politico, citing sources, CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russian officials in Moscow not to escalate conflict with America’s NATO allies, in particular Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, in response to Moscow’s stalemated invasion of Ukraine.
According to a source cited by the outlet, the U.S. intelligence chief also used the rare, unannounced trip to Russia’s capital on Tuesday to pressure Russia to reduce its military and economic support for Iran.