'There is no problem,' Trump says, dismissing Russia-NATO threat after CIA chief’s Moscow visit
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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Aug. 27 that he was not concerned about the possibility of a Russian attack on NATO and downplayed CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s recent trip to Moscow.
"I am not concerned ... at all. There is no problem," Trump told Axios when asked about a possible Russian provocation against NATO countries.
Trump described Ratcliffe’s Aug. 25 visit as "standard business" and dismissed reports that the CIA director had traveled to Moscow to deliver a warning to Russia.
"Ratcliffe sees his Russian counterpart once every six months or once every year. They have a very good relationship. There was no message and there was nothing unusual," Trump said.
Several major U.S. outlets have reported details about Ratcliffe’s trip that differ from Trump’s characterization of the visit, as efforts to broker an end to the war in Ukraine have stalled.
The Wall Street Journal and Politico reported that the visit included a warning to the Kremlin against attacking NATO members, amid U.S. intelligence concerns that Moscow could test the alliance with a limited move against a Baltic state.
While the New York Times (NYT) reported that Ratcliffe told Russian officials that Moscow’s military and economic position was worsening and urged Russia to enter serious negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
NYT reporting added that CIA analysts have long questioned whether Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advisers are giving the Russian president an honest assessment of the war’s trajectory and toll.
Some officials believed that Putin, himself a former intelligence officer, would view a message from the director of the CIA as more urgent and credible than one delivered through lower level diplomatic channels.
Other U.S. media outlets offered further details about the visit, including fresh intelligence suggesting the Kremlin viewed Washington as weakened by the war in Iran and might see an opportunity to escalate against U.S. interests and allies in Europe, according to the Washington Post. Ratcliffe also warned that further escalation in Ukraine would backfire, the Post reported.
The U.S. asked Ukraine not to strike Moscow or St. Petersburg while Ratcliffe was visiting Russia, another person familiar with the situation told the Kyiv Independent on Aug. 25.
According to publicly available flight tracking data, Ratcliffe departed for his trip to Moscow from Latvia. The CIA director did not meet with Putin during the roughly eight-hour visit and departed Moscow aboard the same U.S. military C-17 aircraft on which he arrived.
