Axios: CIA Director Raised Three-Way Trump-Putin-Zelensky Talks in Moscow

By Staff, Agencies

CIA Director John Ratcliffe reportedly proposed holding a trilateral meeting involving US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky during his recent visit to Moscow, according to Axios, citing people familiar with the discussions.

Ratcliffe made an unannounced trip to Moscow on August 25 as part of an effort to explore possible ways of resolving the ongoing Ukraine conflict. The Kremlin confirmed the following day that contacts had taken place between Russian and US intelligence officials, although it said Putin did not meet personally with the CIA director.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin would be briefed on the discussions and described communication between the two countries' intelligence services as a positive development, while declining to provide further details.

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service chief Sergei Naryshkin later confirmed that he had met with Ratcliffe in Moscow. He said their discussions focused on matters involving the two intelligence agencies. Axios also reported that Ratcliffe met with Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov.

According to the report, US officials subsequently briefed Zelensky on the Moscow discussions and the proposal for a three-way summit. Ratcliffe is also said to have raised the possibility of restarting direct peace negotiations aimed at ending the conflict.

Trump previously characterized Ratcliffe's Moscow trip as “semi-routine.” When asked whether the visit involved concerns about Russia testing NATO's resolve or discussions about US sanctions on Iran, Trump reportedly rejected both possibilities.

Ratcliffe's visit marked the first publicly known trip by a CIA director to Moscow since William Burns traveled there in November 2021. The most recent known face-to-face meeting between the heads of the CIA and Russia's SVR took place in Ankara in November 2022, when Burns met Naryshkin to discuss the risk of nuclear escalation and the detention of US citizens.

The last publicly acknowledged communication between Ratcliffe and Naryshkin was a telephone conversation in March 2025. According to the SVR, the two officials agreed to maintain dialogue aimed at promoting international stability and security while reducing tensions between Washington and Moscow.