US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Russia aboard a US military C-17 transport plane for meetings in Moscow on Tuesday, according to a report from CBS News reporter Jennifer Jacobs.
According to Russian state media outlet TASS, a Kremlin spokesperson stated that he did not know about the plane and that no meetings with US officials were planned.
A source familiar with the details of Ratcliffe’s trip told The Jerusalem Post that Trump administration officials asked Ukraine several days ago to pause any strikes against Moscow and other cities from Monday through Wednesday.
The C-17 landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport earlier on Tuesday, data from the flight tracking service Flightradar24 showed.
Unverified footage posted on X/Twitter appears to show the aircraft on approach.
The large Boeing C-17 Globemaster, with the US-registered tail number 07-7181, flew direct from Riga, Latvia, and landed in Moscow around 9:00 a.m. local time.
The aircraft arrived in Riga on August 23 from the US Camp Springs airbase near Washington, DC, Flightradar24 data showed.
According to CBS, a US diplomatic motorcade was also spotted at the Moscow airport.
The last direct flight of a US-registered jet to Russia from Europe took place in January this year, carrying special envoys Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner for peace talks with Vladimir Putin on Ukraine.
The Kremlin said last week it had no information yet about another visit to Moscow by Kushner and Witkoff, as talks between the US and Russia on Ukraine have largely stalled.
Aaron Glick contributed to this report.