New York Times: John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, made a secretive visit to Moscow this week to privately share his bleak assessment of the state of the Russian war against Ukraine, and to urge the Russians to cut a deal before their military and economic situation gets worse, current and former officials said.
Mr. Ratcliffe delivered the message to Aleksandr V. Bortnikov, the head of Russia’s F.S.B. intelligence service, and made no threats about potential consequences for the Russian side should President Vladimir V. Putin ignore the C.I.A. director’s assessment and choose to continue fighting…
Top White House Aides Were in the Dark on Ratcliffe Russia Trip
John Ratcliffe’s diplomatic mission to Russia this week was so sensitive that even some senior White House officials didn’t know about it ahead of time.
…By sending the spy-agency chief, Trump relied on a different aide after previous rounds of negotiations using other trusted envoys failed to stop the fighting in Russia’s war with Ukraine. Over the past few months, Moscow has escalated its attacks on Ukraine, boosted support for Iran’s regime and resisted American attempts to improve economic ties…
Putin sees U.S. as weakened by Iran war, intelligence reports say
CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s mysterious trip to Moscow this week was preceded by fresh U.S. intelligence indicating that the Kremlin sees the United States as weakened by the Iran war, offering Russia an opportunity to escalate action against American interests and allies in Europe, according to twopeople familiar with the matter…