The Financial Times reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe could play a major role in the Russian-Ukrainian talks, replacing Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner in the negotiating team, but US President Donald Trump has not yet made a final decision on this issue.
According to sources in the Financial Times, the White House has long been studying the possibility of changing the composition of the negotiating team. The newspaper notes that a struggle has even begun between Ratcliffe and Whitkoff for the position of chief US negotiator.
The Financial Times also reports that Putin and Trump did not discuss possible changes to the negotiating team during yesterday's phone call.
Ratcliffe visited Moscow on August 25. According to information, he held talks with the head of the Special Security Service, Sergei Naryshkin, and the director of the Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov. After one of those meetings, the contents of Ratcliffe’s message were allegedly passed on to Putin, who refused to meet with him, a source close to the Kremlin told the agency. According to the source, Ratcliffe urged the Russian leadership to come to an agreement to end the war as soon as possible. Axios reported that the CIA director suggested holding a meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelensky. Donald Trump later described the visit as a “regime working meeting.”
