During his visit to Moscow, the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Ratcliffe proposed a trilateral summit involving US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
This was revealed by Axios, citing sources.
The purpose of the proposed trilateral meeting was to use Russian intelligence channels to convince Putin to resume peace talks with Ukraine, with the mediation of the US.
American officials informed Kiev of the proposal shortly after the visit.
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov clarified that Putin did not meet Ratcliffe in person, although they took place talks between the relevant intelligence services.
Ukraine has already supported the idea of a trilateral summit, while Moscow has rejected it.
Ratcliffe has advised the Russians to conclude a deal to end the war before the situation of their armed forces and economic problems worsen. This is reported by the "New York Times”, citing its sources.
Ratcliffe maintains a communication channel with Bortnikov - separate from the official one through which Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner meet with Russian authorities. According to the American newspaper, Ratcliffe did not threaten Russia with potential consequences if Vladimir Putin did not comply with the US recommendation to end the war.
CIA analysts have long expressed doubts that the Russian head of state is not receiving accurate information about the state of military operations from his generals. The sources of the "New York Times” say that there is an expectation that Putin may take this warning from the CIA more seriously given how it was delivered - with a personal meeting, which has not happened since 2021.
European diplomats believe that there may be a possibility of concluding a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine in the coming winter months, given the largely stalled Russian offensive in Donbass, as well as Ukraine's ability to continue to inflict heavy losses on Russia through drone strikes.