Lithuanian security committee to discuss CIA chief’s Moscow visit

Lithuania’s parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence will discuss the unannounced visit by CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Moscow when the autumn session begins, committee chairman Rimantas Sinkevičius told LRT, citing ELTA.

Sinkevičius said there was value in discussing the visit, but that it was not currently an urgent matter.

“The autumn session is not far away. Some people are away, while others have arranged their personal time differently. This is probably not the hot-button issue for which everyone should rush to gather and do something,” he said.

He said the committee would discuss the matter once parliament resumed its work, while stressing that he had not been informed about the visit or its contents.

“I do not have additional information, the kind that the presidents have,” Sinkevičius said. He added that he did not want to speculate because statements by a committee chairman could be interpreted as the opinion of a well-informed person.

Sinkevičius said the public nature of the visit suggested that US intelligence officials had wanted it to be known.

“A flight from Riga, and the visit became public. Normally, officials of this rank and in such positions do not seek much publicity. In this case, it became public, which means that it was intended to show that the visit had taken place,” he said.

He also said the visit could be beneficial to Lithuania, arguing that the Baltic states had been informed about its purpose and that their concerns were therefore likely discussed.

US media reported on Tuesday that Ratcliffe had travelled to Moscow. The Wall Street Journal and CBS News said he sought to persuade Russia not to attack NATO members, citing US intelligence assessments that Moscow might want to test the alliance.

The CIA declined to comment on the trip. ABC News reported that Ratcliffe also raised Iran during meetings in Moscow.

Ratcliffe travelled to Moscow from Riga aboard a US Air Force C-17 military transport aircraft. Axios, citing sources, reported that the United States had asked Ukraine to halt strikes against Russia while the CIA director was in Moscow.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told The Washington Post that Ratcliffe had travelled to Moscow for contacts between security services. Peskov later said Ratcliffe had not met Russian President Vladimir Putin, but provided no further details about the meetings.

The visit was likely Ratcliffe’s first trip to Moscow as CIA director. The last known visit by a CIA director to Russia took place in 2021, when then-director William Burns travelled to Moscow.