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John Ratcliffe in Moscow After US Military Plane Lands in Russia

The CIA director arrived aboard a C-17 from Riga and left the capital after a brief mission

The mystery surrounding the U.S. military aircraft that landed in Moscow on Tuesday has been clarified: CIA Director John Ratcliffe arrived in Moscow aboard a U.S. military C-17 and left the Russian capital several hours later after a series of meetings.

The episode began around 10 a.m. local time, when online flight-tracking systems reported the arrival in Moscow of a Boeing C-17A Globemaster III. According to data cited by Russia’s Tass news agency, the aircraft had departed from Joint Base Andrews near Washington and flown to Riga, Latvia, before continuing toward Russia.

A source from the European Union’s air traffic control services told Tass that the aircraft, which had initially reached Latvia from Andrews, subsequently departed Riga and headed toward the Russian border before landing in Moscow.

The identity of the senior official aboard the aircraft was subsequently reported by CBS and Axios journalist Barak Ravid. The passenger was Ratcliffe, the director of the CIA.

The Kremlin initially offered no explanation for the unusual arrival. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had no information concerning the American aircraft.

Ratcliffe remained in Moscow for several hours and was reportedly engaged in a series of meetings. No official details have been released about the purpose of his mission or the people he met.

The aircraft eventually left the Russian capital, according to Tass, heading back toward the border with Latvia.

The flight had already attracted attention because of its unusual route and the absence of an immediate official explanation. The C-17’s journey from the United States to Riga and then Moscow was tracked through publicly available flight data, providing the first indication that an American military aircraft had entered the Russian capital.

The visit also comes amid reports concerning U.S. contacts with Ukraine over military operations against Russia. The Financial Times reported that officials from the Trump administration had asked Kyiv not to strike Moscow, St. Petersburg or Russia’s northern regions with long-range missiles and drones on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday — the same period in which the United States was expected to send a senior official to Moscow.

Ukraine agreed to the request, according to the newspaper.

Ratcliffe’s arrival and departure therefore turn what initially appeared to be an unexplained movement by an American military transport aircraft into a confirmed visit by the head of the CIA, although the details of the mission remain undisclosed.

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