An American military transport aircraft, the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, flew from Riga to Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport on Tuesday morning, according to Flightradar24 data. The plane arrived in the Latvian capital from the state of Maryland, where an airbase is located, which hosts, among others, the US military’s presidential aircraft.
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After reports of the US military plane’s arrival, a motorcade with American diplomatic plates was spotted on Moscow streets on Tuesday.
At 7 p.m. Lithuanian time, it was announced that the plane had departed from Moscow back to Latvia.
Putin canceled all events due to CIA director’s visit
Russian President Vladimir Putin urgently changed his Tuesday schedule after it was announced that CIA Director John Ratcliffe had arrived in Moscow.
A large-scale event planned for Tuesday, organized by hundreds of people, was postponed just days before it was to take place, reported Kremlin correspondent Aleksandr Yunashov.
According to him, sources confirmed the information about CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s arrival in Moscow. The visit was earlier reported by CBS News correspondent Jennifer Jacobs, citing sources. According to them, the CIA chief was expected to hold meetings with Russian officials in the Russian capital on Tuesday.
Asked Ukraine not to attack during that time
Before Ratcliffe’s trip, the US informed Ukraine about the high-level American delegation’s visit to Moscow and asked to temporarily halt strikes during their stay in the Russian capital, reported Axios, citing a source.
Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov earlier stated that the Kremlin has no information about the American military plane that arrived at Vnukovo.
Representatives of the US Department of Defense, the White House, the US Embassy in Moscow, and the Russian Embassy in Washington did not promptly respond to questions about the flight’s purpose, NBC notes.
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If the CIA director indeed flew to Moscow, it would be the first such visit since the start of the war in Ukraine. The previous one took place in November 2021. Then US intelligence chief William Burns secretly arrived to warn the Kremlin that the US knew about Vladimir Putin’s planned invasion and to caution him against taking that step.
The American military plane also flew to Russia in February during a prisoner exchange, notes the British publication The iPaper. At that time, American teacher Mark Fogel was released from a Russian prison and handed over to the US.
On Monday, another American plane, a Boeing C-40 Clipper used to transport high-ranking officials, landed in Riga, also arriving from the Maryland airbase. Typically, its passengers may include members of the presidential administration, members of Congress, or military commanders.
Were Kushner and Witkoff expected?
There have long been no substantive negotiations between Russian and US representatives regarding the resolution of the situation in Ukraine. The Kremlin has repeatedly stated about the possible arrival in Moscow of Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the American president’s son-in-law, who might have led such talks.
Some time ago, a TASS source reported that they could visit Kyiv and Moscow before the end of August. However, on Sunday, the agency’s interlocutor said: “The visit is unlikely to happen before the end of August.”
Instead of Witkoff and Kushner, a Vatican representative arrived in Moscow, writes The Moscow Times. Vatican Foreign Minister Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher held a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and stated that the Vatican is ready to help achieve a peaceful resolution.
“We are ready to offer our goodwill services in any possible way, hoping that the much-desired peace can be achieved as soon as possible,” said P.R. Gallagher.
