CIA director John Ratcliffe has made a surprise trip to Moscow, it was reported on Tuesday, after an American jet landing sparked frenzied speculation.
It emerged after flight-tracking data revealed a US Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III transport plane touched down at Vnukovo International Airport.
The jet left Riga, Latvia, at around 8.50am Moscow time (1.50am ET, 6.50am BST) and landed just outside the Russian capital approximately 74 minutes later.
The flight's arrival was highly unusual given the current tensions between Washington and Moscow. It also comes at a particularly fraught moment on NATO's eastern frontier, with Russian missiles and drones repeatedly testing Poland's air defenses.
A Russian missile entered Polish airspace and crashed in July, prompting Warsaw and the bloc to activate air and ground defenses and scramble aircraft.
NATO chief Mark Rutte called the episode 'another reckless act by Russia' and a dangerous consequence of its war against Ukraine.
It followed previous Russian airspace violations that have fueled fears in Warsaw that Moscow is testing the bloc's defenses and willingness to respond.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA director John Ratcliffe and Donald Trump in a makeshift Situation Room at Mar-a-Lago in January
The C-17A Globemaster III touched down at Vnukovo International Airport on Tuesday after taking off from Riga, Latvia, flight-tracking data showed
Trump greets Russian president Vladimir Putin on the tarmac after they arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15 last year
'We in Poland, and you in Ukraine, have decided: We will never again be Russian colonies,' Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Tuesday.
Ratcliffe's visit, first reported by sources who spoke to CBS News, echoes the CIA's last publicly known director-level trip to Moscow. William Burns traveled there in November 2021 and met with Vladimir Putin to warn against a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
US-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have stalled after Donald Trump met with Putin in Alaska last year.
Separately, footage circulating online appeared to show a US diplomatic convoy traveling through Moscow around the time of the landing on Tuesday.
A motorcade bearing American diplomatic number plates with a police escort was spotted speeding through Moscow shortly after footage of the plane surfaced online.
The CIA keeps in contact with its Russian intelligence counterparts and has been involved in recent prisoner exchanges, including the April 2025 release of US-Russian dual national Ksenia Karelina, whose case Mr Ratcliffe personally negotiated.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had no information about the aircraft.
Trump and Ratcliffe speak following a cabinet meeting at Camp David, near Thurmont, Maryland, on July 31
The C-17A is a long-range military transport used to move troops, vehicles and heavy cargo and can carry up to 170,900 pounds
The aircraft, flying under the call sign RCH4555, left the NATO country at around 8.50am Moscow time (1.50am ET, 6.50am BST) and landed in the Russian capital roughly 74 minutes later
Neither Washington nor Moscow has explained the reason for the flight as of Tuesday morning, leaving it unclear who or what the giant military aircraft was carrying
What does Ratcliffe’s secret Moscow visit mean for trust and security on NATO’s frontline?
The White House and Pentagon had not publicly disclosed the purpose of the flight or confirmed who or what was onboard.
Flight history showed the aircraft had arrived in Riga on August 23 from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, near Washington, DC, and flew to Moscow under the call sign RCH4555.
The C-17A is a military transport aircraft used to move troops, vehicles and heavy cargo.
The Daily Mail has contacted the White House for comment.