Trump’s CIA chief John Ratcliffe makes surprise trip to Moscow for secret meeting after US jet landing sparked frenzy

CIA Director John Ratcliffe has made a surprise trip to Moscow, sources told CBS News, after a US jet landing sparked frenzied speculation earlier Tuesday.

The CIA declined to offer any comment about Ratcliffe’s visit, which appears to be his first to Russia as head of the spy agency. The Kremlin denied to comment.

The CIA keeps in contact its Kremlin counterparts, and has been involved in recent prisoner exchanges, including US-Russian dual national Ksenia Karelina, whose 2025 release was personally negotiated by Ratcliffe.

Ratcliffe’s visit comes as US-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have stalled after Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin in Alaska last year. 

William Burns was the last known CIA boss to travel to Russia, when he visited Moscow in November 2021 to warn Putin against invading Ukraine.

Ratcliffe’s visit emerged after flight tracking data had revealed a US Air Force Boeing C-17A Globemaster III transport plane touched down at Vnukovo International Airport outside Moscow.

Flying under the call sign RCH4555, the jet left Riga, Latvia, at around 8.50am Moscow time (1.50am ET) and landed in the Russian capital approximately 74 minutes later.

Flightradar24 described the aircraft as an ‘unusual visitor’ to Moscow. The flight would have required authorization from Russian authorities to enter the country’s airspace and land at Vnukovo.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had no information about the aircraft and added that no meetings with US administration officials were scheduled for this week.

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, where the US presidential aircraft fleet is based. The C-17A is a long-range military transport used to move troops, vehicles and heavy cargo and can carry up to 170,900lb.

The landing came as Reuters reported that Ukraine had worked with US and European officials on a new proposal intended for Moscow, although there was no evidence connecting the diplomatic effort to the flight.

Separately, footage circulating online appeared to show a US diplomatic convoy traveling through Moscow around the time of the landing.

A motorcade bearing American diplomatic number plates with a police escort was spotted speeding through Moscow shortly after footage of the plane surfaced online.

A flight enthusiast tracking the jet said on X: ‘In a highly unusual move, a US Air Force C-17 transport aircraft has just landed in Moscow from Riga, Latvia, flying across restricted airspace. I wonder what is going on…’

The Daily Mail has contacted the White House for comment.

Some military-aviation observers speculated the mission could be associated with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, raising the possibility that he could be travelling to Moscow. 

Pentagon records show Hegseth spent Monday, August 24, visiting Nebraska and Wisconsin as part of his ‘Arsenal of Freedom’ tour. 

Another user suggested that a prisoner exchange would not likely happen with a C-17A, as previous swaps have all used smaller, private-style jets.

The C-17A Globemaster III is a hulking four-engine military transport designed to carry troops, armored vehicles and oversized cargo around the world.

The Boeing-built aircraft stretches 174ft from nose to tail and has a wingspan of nearly 170ft.

It can haul up to 170,900lb, enough to carry 102 fully equipped paratroopers or a 69-ton M1 Abrams battle tank.

The jet cruises at approximately 518mph and can travel about 2,760 miles without refueling while carrying close to its maximum payload. Aerial refueling gives the aircraft a virtually global range.

Despite its enormous size, the aircraft can take off and land on runways as short as 3,500 feet and reverse under its own power.

The Air Force uses the aircraft, which is not an armed fighter, to deliver troops and equipment, conduct airdrops, evacuate wounded patients and support humanitarian missions.

Its cavernous cargo hold can transport some of the US military’s heaviest equipment, and publicly available flight data did not reveal what was aboard the plane that landed in Moscow. 

The roots of the C-17 stretch back to the late Seventies, when the US Air Force began searching for a powerful new transport capable of delivering troops and heavy combat equipment directly to remote battlefields.

The service formally opened its C-X competition in 1980, calling for an aircraft that could carry enormous loads, including the M1 Abrams tank, into small, austere airfields.

McDonnell Douglas beat Boeing for the project in August 1981 with a design based partly on its earlier YC-15 prototype, and the aircraft was designated the C-17 the following month.

Development was plagued by cost overruns and repeated delays as engineers wrestled with mission-computer software, flight controls and a complex wing designed for short-runway operations.

The problems became so serious that the Pentagon placed McDonnell Douglas and the C-17 program on probation in the 1990s.

The prototype, known as T-1, finally completed its maiden flight on September 15, 1991, and the first operational squadron was declared ready in January 1995. 

Boeing inherited the program after merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997 and continued building the aircraft at its Long Beach, California, plant.

Production ended in November 2015 after 279 C-17s had been built for the US Air Force and military operators including the UK, Australia, Canada, India, Qatar and Nato partners.