{"id":12056,"date":"2026-08-27T11:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T11:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/12056\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T11:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T11:44:07","slug":"media-cia-chief-warned-russia-against-attacks-on-nato-allies-during-moscow-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/12056\/","title":{"rendered":"Media: CIA chief warned Russia against attacks on NATO allies during Moscow visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russian officials against escalating tensions with NATO members during an unannounced visit to Moscow this week, with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania among the main countries discussed, according to reports by Politico<\/a> and The Wall Street Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Politico reported, citing two people familiar with the talks, that Ratcliffe used the visit to tell Moscow not to take military or other escalatory action against NATO states as the war in Ukraine continues and exchanges of long-range attacks increase.<\/p>\n

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The trip on Tuesday marked Ratcliffe\u2019s first known visit to Moscow since becoming CIA director.<\/p>\n

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The Wall Street Journal first reported that the visit included a warning against attacks on NATO members. Politico later reported that the Baltic states were a particular focus of the discussions.<\/p>\n

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The visit was not announced in advance by the US administration. A US military transport aircraft used for the trip had departed from Latvia before flying to Moscow, according to public flight-tracking information.<\/p>\n

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Russian Foreign Intelligence Service director Sergei Naryshkin confirmed on Thursday that he met Ratcliffe in Moscow, according to Russian state news agency Tass<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere was nothing unusual about it,\u201d Naryshkin told reporters.<\/p>\n

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Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Ratcliffe held talks with Russian intelligence officials but did not meet President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

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US President Donald Trump played down the significance of the trip in a radio interview on Wednesday, calling the visit \u201csemi-routine\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Trump rejected suggestions that Ratcliffe had travelled to Moscow because of concern that Russia was preparing to test NATO\u2019s commitment to collective defence.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe would like to see the war with Ukraine end,\u201d Trump said, adding that discussions might produce other results.<\/p>\n

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The White House and CIA have not confirmed the reported warnings to Russia.<\/p>\n

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Politico reported that US intelligence assessments have raised concern about Russian preparations for steps aimed at testing NATO unity. Possible scenarios include cyber operations, sabotage or limited military action against countries on NATO\u2019s eastern border.<\/p>\n

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Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, an armed attack against one member is treated as an attack against all members.<\/p>\n

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Russia has used cyberattacks, sabotage and other forms of activity below the threshold of direct military confrontation against European states during recent years. NATO governments have also reported a rise in incidents involving infrastructure, communications systems and transport networks.<\/p>\n

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Ratcliffe\u2019s reported warning comes as Russia and Ukraine increase missile and drone operations far from the main front lines.<\/p>\n

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Ukraine has struck Russian energy and commercial infrastructure<\/a>, while Russian forces have increased attacks on Ukrainian cities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of preparing a new phase of escalation and has called for further sanctions<\/a> and air defence support from Ukraine\u2019s partners.<\/p>\n

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Politico also reported that Ratcliffe raised Russia\u2019s relationship with Iran during the Moscow talks.<\/p>\n

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According to one person familiar with the visit and a British official cited by Politico, Ratcliffe urged Moscow to reduce military and economic support for Tehran and to avoid escalating tensions in response to new US sanctions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Washington has threatened secondary sanctions against countries that continue economic dealings with Iran.<\/p>\n

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Trump entered his second term pledging to end the war in Ukraine, but talks have failed to produce a settlement. His administration has maintained diplomatic contacts with Moscow while increasing pressure over Russia\u2019s military operations.<\/p>\n

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Ratcliffe has taken a firmer line towards Russia than some figures in Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

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His trip recalls a visit by former CIA director William Burns in November 2021. Burns travelled to Moscow to warn Russia against invading Ukraine.<\/p>\n

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Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.<\/p>\n

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HT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned Russian officials against escalating tensions with NATO members during an unannounced visit to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[232,6987,57,68,156,6988,69,70,2437,7,20,468],"class_list":["post-12056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-baltic-states","tag-cia","tag-donald-trump","tag-estonia","tag-iran","tag-john-ratcliffe","tag-latvia","tag-lithuania","tag-moscow","tag-nato","tag-russia","tag-ukraine-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}