Europe Left in Dark Over Secret CIA Chief Visit to Russia
European officials have said they are unaware of the details of a secret visit by John Ratcliffe, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to Russia, and that Washington did not brief its European allies on the trip.
Bloomberg reported that none of the European parties were informed about the content of Ratcliffe’s talks with Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service.
Earlier, the Wall Street Journal, citing US officials, wrote that President Donald Trump had personally sent Ratcliffe to Russia on a special mission.
According to the report, the CIA chief stressed in his meeting with Russian officials Washington’s commitment to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which covers collective defence of the alliance’s members. The talks were also said to have focused on the war in Ukraine.
Article 5 is considered one of NATO’s most important principles and states that an attack on one member of the alliance is regarded as an attack on all members. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has been at the centre of many security consultations between the United States and Europe.
