The C-17 plane was spotted landing in Moscow shortly before CBS News reporter Jennifer Jacobs reported that CIA Director John Ratcliffe had traveled to Moscow aboard a C-17.

US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Russia aboard a US military C-17 transport plane for meetings in Moscow on Tuesday, according to a report from CBS News reporter Jennifer Jacobs.

According to Russian state media outlet TASS, a Kremlin spokesperson stated that he did not know about the plane and that no meetings with US officials were planned.

The US allegedly informed Ukraine ahead of the landing that several senior officials would be traveling to Moscow and asked Kyiv to pause strikes until the delegation left, according to an Axios report citing a source with knowledge of the matter.

The C-17 landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport earlier on Tuesday, data from the flight tracking service Flightradar24 showed.

The large Boeing C-17 Globemaster, with the US-registered tail number 07-7181, flew direct from Riga, Latvia, and landed in Moscow around 9:00 a.m. local time.

The aircraft arrived in Riga on August 23 from the US Camp Springs airbase near Washington, DC, Flightradar24 data showed.

According to CBS, a US diplomatic motorcade was also spotted at the Moscow airport.

C-17’s arrival marks first direct flight by US aircraft to Russia since January

The last direct flight of a US-registered jet to Russia from Europe took place in January this year, carrying special envoys Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner for peace talks with Vladimir Putin on Ukraine.

The Kremlin said last week it had no information yet about another visit to Moscow by Kushner and Witkoff, as talks between the US and Russia on Ukraine have largely stalled.

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