CIA Director John Ratcliffe, during a secret visit to Moscow, proposed a trilateral summit involving the presidents of the United States, Russia, and Ukraine — Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Volodymyr Zelensky, reports infohub.kz.
According to two sources from Axios, Ratcliffe visited Moscow on Tuesday. One of the goals of the visit was to determine whether Russian intelligence chiefs could persuade Putin to return to negotiations with Ukraine mediated by the United States.
On Friday, U.S. officials informed Zelensky of the results of the Moscow talks and the proposal for a trilateral summit. The Trump administration had previously made a similar initiative: Ukraine supported it, but Russia declined.
This was Ratcliffe's first personal involvement in diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The CIA officially declined to comment on the content of his talks.
Following the publication, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that a meeting between Putin, Trump, and Zelensky could only take place after the basic terms of a peace settlement are agreed upon, reports RIA Novosti.
"A summit of Putin, Trump, and Zelensky is only possible to finalize agreements," Peskov said.
The Kremlin spokesman also said that Moscow remains open to negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Turkey, but currently sees no prerequisites for their resumption.
"Moscow remains open to talks between the delegations of Russia and Ukraine in Turkey, but there are no prerequisites for them yet," he said.
According to Peskov, any potential agreements on Ukraine cannot be a "primitive deal," as the settlement process involves a large number of complex issues.
U.S. officials informed Volodymyr Zelensky of Ratcliffe's talks in Moscow and the proposal for a trilateral summit. The publication notes that Kyiv supports such a format.
Zelensky himself thanked the United States for the "necessary tone of conversation with Russia."
"The Trump administration is promoting a realistic vision of what needs to be done and what should be achieved," the Ukrainian president said.