CIA Director John Ratcliffe arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for meetings with Russian officials. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

The visit was reported by CBS News and Axios, citing unnamed sources. The media did not specify who Ratcliffe plans to meet or what issues will be discussed.

The visit was very short: according to media reports, the CIA chief stayed in Moscow for about four hours. Ratcliffe flew in on a C-17 military transport aircraft via Latvia.

Former Deputy Director of National Intelligence Beth Sanner suggested that Ratcliffe may have brought a direct warning to the Russian leadership: Washington knows about planned actions and urges them to be abandoned. Another possible topic she mentioned was involving Moscow in resolving the conflict with Iran. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The CIA declined to comment on the information. The Kremlin did not respond promptly to journalists' requests.

This is the first known visit by a US intelligence chief to Moscow since November 2021. At that time, Ratcliffe's predecessor William Burns held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. About three months after that meeting, Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ratcliffe has led the CIA under US President Donald Trump. During Trump's first presidential term, he served as Director of National Intelligence.

Last week, Washington asked Kyiv to refrain from strikes on Moscow, St. Petersburg, and some northern regions of Russia on August 24, 25, and 26. The reason cited was a planned flight to the Russian capital of an aircraft carrying a high-ranking US official.

Ratcliffe's visit comes amid Washington's increased pressure on Iran. On Monday, the US warned other countries to sever business ties with Tehran, or face secondary sanctions.

These measures are aimed at increasing economic pressure on Iran to resolve the US-Israeli war against Tehran that began in February.

The US currently has no ambassador in Russia. At the same time, Moscow maintains close strategic partnership with Iran, covering military, economic, and diplomatic spheres.

Earlier, Tehran supplied Russia with drones for use in the war against Ukraine. In March, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of transferring the Russian version of these drones to Iran.

In April, Reuters, citing Ukrainian intelligence assessments, reported that Russia allegedly provided Iran with satellite imagery to prepare strikes on US targets in the Middle East.

Moscow denies providing such assistance to Tehran and states it is ready to facilitate the resolution of the US-Iran conflict.