CIA Chief Was Aboard Secret US Globemaster Aircraft That Landed At Moscow Airport: Reports

A US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III became a hot topic for speculation and theories after it secretly landed at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport on Tuesday. According to media reports, the plane was carrying CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who has arrived in Moscow for high-level talks with Russian officials.

The Boeing aircraft with US registration number 07-7181 on the tail landed at Moscow's Vnukovo airport at around 07:00 GMT on Tuesday morning after flying directly from Latvia's capital Riga, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24 and news agency Reuters.

A convoy of US diplomatic vehicles was also reportedly seen near the plane at the airport, which indicated some high-level official had visited Russia.

CIA chief represented Trump administration

According to Axios and CBS News reports, US officials revealed that Ratcliffe has travelled to Moscow to meet with Russian officials. He departed from Washington on Sunday and first arrived in Latvia.

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He then travelled from Riga to Moscow. If officially confirmed, this trip would be Ratcliffe's first known visit to Russia since taking over as CIA Director. It would also be the first high-level visit to Moscow by a top Trump administration official since January.

Kremlin denied having information

The mystery surrounding the visit deepened further after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed he had no official information regarding the plane. Peskov added there were no prior plans for any meetings with US administration officials in Moscow this week.

According to the Axios report, Washington had already informed Ukraine before the visit and had requested Kyiv to suspend its attacks until the delegation returned from Russia.

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Diplomatic significance of the visit

Ratcliffe's significant visit comes at a time when US mediation and diplomatic efforts to end the Ukrainian war have largely stalled. Furthermore, CBS News has highlighted that the US intelligence agency, the CIA, has previously played a key role in prisoner exchanges between the two countries.

These diplomatic efforts led to the release of dual-citizen Ksenia Karelina in April 2025. A major prisoner exchange agreement in 2024 also secured the release of Wall Street Journal journalist Ivan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan.