During his recent mysterious visit to Moscow, CIA Director John Ratcliffe proposed a trilateral summit between President Trump, Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy during a covert meeting with SVR Foreign Intelligence Chief Sergey Naryshkin and FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov, two sources briefed on the matter have told Axios.
Ratcliffe’s visit was partly aimed at determining whether Russia’s heads of intelligence services could help convince Putin to move toward resuming negotiations aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine War. During the meeting, Ratcliffe gave Bortnikov “a bleak assessment” of the state of the war and urged Russia to cut a deal with Ukraine and the United States.
On Friday, U.S. officials briefed Zelenskyy on Ratcliffe’s talks in Moscow and the proposal for a trilateral summit, an idea which he had previously supported, though has been continually rejected by Putin. Reports by local media in Ukraine has suggested that negotiations could resume in September.