News analysis
What lies behind CIA boss’ lightning visit to Moscow – and did he succeed in his mission?
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A French soldier with an anti-tank system during NATO’s Eagle Spearhead military exercise in Cincu, Romania, on Aug 18.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
- Russia aims to create a new security crisis in Europe to weaken and discredit Nato, exploiting current US distractions and Europe's slow defence buildup.
- CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow to warn Russia against escalating tensions, but Europe was excluded from talks, leaving anxieties unresolved.
- Russian sabotage targets European security with small-scale attacks to provoke division within Nato and avoid a full alliance response, risking miscalculation and increased instability.
AI generated
LONDON – National spymasters regularly talk to each other even – or, perhaps, especially – when their countries are at each other’s throats. So, when John Ratcliffe, head of the CIA, America’s top intelligence agency, flew for a brief visit to the Russian capital on Aug 25, officials in both Moscow and Washington claimed that this was business as usual.
“I talk to leaders of other countries’ special services almost every week, whether face to face or online,” explained Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, soon after Ratcliffe left Moscow. It was all “semi-routine”; that’s how President Donald Trump described the meeting.