CIA Director John Ratcliffe proposed during a secret visit to Moscow this week that a trilateral summit be held bringing together U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of efforts to end the war between Moscow and Kyiv, according to two people familiar with the matter cited by Axios on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Ratcliffe\u2019s visit is particularly significant as it marks the first time he has personally become involved in diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving a breakthrough in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, following months of stalled talks and a lack of tangible progress.<\/p>\n
Ratcliffe arrived in Moscow on Tuesday in an unannounced visit, where he held meetings with Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia\u2019s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), and Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Federal Security Service (FSB). According to the sources, the talks focused on the possibility of reviving the diplomatic process between Moscow and Kyiv after U.S.-led efforts had stalled in recent months.<\/p>\n
During his meetings in the Russian capital, Ratcliffe also discussed prospects for resuming U.S.-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. He also sought to assess the extent to which senior Russian intelligence officials could influence President Vladimir Putin and encourage him to return to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n
According to the two sources, the CIA director concluded after his discussions that Alexander Bortnikov could be a constructive counterpart who might play a role in helping relaunch the stalled diplomatic process.<\/p>\n
In the same context, The New York Times reported that Ratcliffe gave the Russian official a \u201cbleak\u201d assessment of the course of the war during their talks and urged Moscow to seek an agreement before conditions deteriorate further.<\/p>\n
On Friday, U.S. officials briefed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the results of Ratcliffe\u2019s talks in Moscow, including the proposal for a trilateral summit involving Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration had previously floated the idea of such a summit, and Zelenskyy had expressed his approval, while Putin rejected the proposal.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the U.S. president played down the significance of the CIA director\u2019s mission, telling Axios that Ratcliffe\u2019s visit to Moscow was \u201croutine,\u201d and denying that it was intended to deliver a warning to Russia over the possibility of an attack on NATO territory.<\/p>\n
On the Ukrainian side, doubts remain over Moscow\u2019s willingness to seriously engage in the peace process. Ukrainian officials have expressed reservations about Putin\u2019s intentions, saying Kyiv has intelligence indicating that Russia is preparing for a new military escalation.<\/p>\n
Pavlo Palisa, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said Putin had ordered preparations for several scenarios involving potential attacks in northern Ukraine, noting that the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions were among the main targets under consideration.<\/p>\n
Such information further complicates U.S. efforts to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table, as Washington seeks to assess the prospects for a political settlement that could end the ongoing war between the two countries.<\/p>\n
Negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv sponsored by the Trump administration had been suspended in mid-February following the outbreak of the war with Iran. Although U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner continued holding separate talks with the two sides in the following months, those contacts failed to produce tangible progress toward an agreement to end the war.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov hinted on Thursday at the possibility of resuming U.S.-sponsored talks in September, potentially paving the way for the negotiating process to return after a period of stagnation.<\/p>\n
In the same context, Zelenskyy thanked the United States on Friday for what he described as the \u201cappropriate tone\u201d it has adopted in its dialogue with Russia. He said the Trump administration was pushing toward a realistic assessment of what needs to be done and what must be achieved to bring the war to an end.<\/p>\n
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