Kremlin says reports of Putin refusing to meet CIA chief are baseless

Yuri Ushakov said that, according to his information, no meeting between President Putin and the CIA director had ever been planned. During his visit to Moscow, John Ratcliffe met senior officials of Russian intelligence agencies.

The Kremlin aide said the contacts were entirely official and confidential in nature. He said he was therefore not authorised to give details of the talks or comment on them.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe arrived in Moscow on 25 August.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had also made clear that the visit to Russia by the head of the US intelligence agency was part of contacts between the intelligence agencies of the two countries.

Sergey Naryshkin, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), had also confirmed that he met John Ratcliffe in Moscow. He said such contacts between heads of intelligence agencies of different countries were part of routine professional work.