On Tuesday 25 August, John Ratcliffe the Director of the CIA flew to Moscow in a large C-17 Globemaster III  American military plane for an in-person meeting with his opposite numbers in the Russian FSB. He left the same day, apparently earlier than expected, without meeting the Russian leader Vladimir Putin. US and Russian government sources have both declined to comment on the reasons for this unscheduled visit, and were reluctant to confirm that it had even taken place

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/25/cia-director-john-ratcliffe-moscow-russia

A lightning personal visit of this type to Russia by a Director of the CIA is a very rare event. The last time it happened was in late November 2021 when CIA Director William Burns unexpectedly flew to Moscow in an attempt to discourage Putin from invading Ukraine. US intelligence analysts had detected unmistakeable signs that Russia was about to attack, and the CIA Director was sent to tell Putin that there would be serious consequences if he did so. Russa ignored the warning and invaded Ukraine anyway on 24 February 2022.

There is much speculation as to what was discussed at Tuesday’s meeting. Putin is said to have signed three new undisclosed decrees on Monday. One of them is believed to relate to a new large-scale mobilisation of Russian military forces. Another is thought to authorise the Russian government to seize control of key elements of their national infrastructure which are being degraded by Ukrainean drone and missile attacks. The final one is said to define new battlefield objectives for Russian military leaders within the coming year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnMxpQb5gbo

It is unclear whether the CIA Director was warning Russia not to ramp up their recent wave of hybrid  sabotage and cyber attacks against western European countries, or whether there are real fears that Russia might launch a conventional attack against Baltic state border countries who are NATO members - which would trigger an Article 5 response.

Other items on the agenda might have included American concerns over the growing involvement of North Korean forces in the Ukraine conflict, or their annoyance with Russia’s ongoing defiance of international  trade sanctions on Iran. One thing seems clear however. The Director of the CIA was probably sent to deliver an ultimatum or warning of some description, and was apparently given very short shrift.

Hopefully the purpose of the visit was to ask for asylum for D Trump and his Administration, once he is forced out of office by impeachment in November, and they are all looking at jail time for war crimes, extortion, treason, corruption and racketeering, insider trading, etc.
Oh, and lets not forget Trump and Lutnick's close association with J Epstein, the extent of which still hasn't come to light.
( I think I read that Trump is mentioned, only in the released Epstein files, 29000 times, while Jesus Christ is mentioned in the Bible only 1900 times.
That's a lot of smoke; has to be a fire somewhere.
( maybe he'll distract us by renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America )

As Doug Ford, Ontario Premier, said "Donald Trump can kiss my ass".

41 minutes ago, MigL said:

Hopefully the purpose of the visit was to ask for asylum for D Trump and his Administration, once he is forced out of office by impeachment in November, and they are all looking at jail time for war crimes, extortion, treason, corruption and racketeering, insider trading, etc.

Actually that is a moot point. SCOTUS basically made the presidency unassailable for presidential actions. So much that associated actions cannot even be investigated. There is no reason for him to seek asylum as the corruption is entirely legal. Also, as you know, if there is smoke, the only thing that happens are more tariffs, for some reason.