A few weeks ago, CIA chief John Ratcliffe suddenly found himself in Moscow. This surprise visit gave rise to numerous comments in the West. They developed the following thesis: Such trips don't happen every day, and therefore Vladimir Putin must have been impressed and willing to listen to the information that the American brought him. He probably delivered the message that the Americans knew that the Russians were preparing to attack a NATO country. And once Putin realized that the Americans saw what he was preparing to do, he wouldn't do it.
However, this whole construction has no connection with reality. First, Putin was "impressed" to such an extent that he didn't even meet his American guest in person. Why? Because in his head, the arrival of the great overseas chief "on foot" is a sign of weakness on the part of the guest, not a signal of the seriousness of the situation.
For Russians, the West is "weak"
We can see the Russian attitude towards the West as early as the correspondence between Ivan the Terrible and Elizabeth I. For centuries, the Russian government has viewed the West as some kind of weakling who will always "crawl" (in the words of Dmitry Medvedev at Putin's last Security Council before the war) into the Kremlin, "bringing gifts" (again according to Medvedev). Any such "crawling" in the minds of Russian leaders is a signal that the other side is currently in an extremely weak position relative to the Kremlin.
Putin saw the American's visit as a signal of extreme weakness on the part of the United States and reacted accordingly, switching to "ignore" mode. He did not meet with him at all. In fact, many could have predicted this Putin reaction.
Second, what did Putin hear? The answer is clear: what those officials who nevertheless met with the American intelligence officer reported to him. Putin's information chain works in exactly this way: he is only told what he would like to hear. This has also been known for years.
Thirdly and fourthly, based on the information conveyed to him, Putin could not have made any other decision than to sharply escalate the pressure on the West in order to take advantage of that weakness of his, which was expressed in the "creeping" of the American guest.
Therefore, Putin's response to this visit was expected: a sharp increase in pressure in all directions - both on Ukraine and on its Western allies. Russia increased the bombs and shells falling on Ukrainian citizens. It raised the provocations on the territories of NATO countries to an unprecedented level. The main version of the explosion at the EMKO plant in Bulgaria remains that of a Russian sabotage operation. The incursion of drones into the airspace of half a dozen countries is also attributed to Russia. In mid-September, Russian missiles fired at a Danish helicopter, and a little later a Russian military helicopter entered the territory of Poland.
Incidentally, Ratcliffe's surprise visit was followed by a visit to Russia by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, as well as by the official invitation extended by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Putin to participate in the G-20 meeting in Miami this fall.
This latest "creeping" probably only reinforces the Russian dictator's impression that the West is in a weak position and needs to be crushed.
No, Putin will not "crawl"
The G-20 meeting is still far away, but the beginnings of another Western whining in the direction of "When Putin comes, we will agree with him on all issues" are already noticeable.
But this will not happen and they will not agree on anything. Because Putin will not "crawl" on their territory. This is clear even from the headlines of Russian newspapers in recent days. The Russian president will wait for the West to crawl onto his territory.