The US CIA chief reportedly warned Russia against attacking NATO as Moscow’s war in Ukraine intensified and European nations raised alarm over the Kremlin’s heightened threats. John Ratcliffe’s surprise talks with Russian officials were the first of their kind since his predecessor visited in late 2021, also to deliver a warning — to not attack Ukraine.
Russia’s subsequent full-scale invasion has largely degraded into a battlefield stalemate, with Moscow’s and Kyiv’s forces vying for the upper hand, though the two sides have recently intensified their aerial attacks on one another. So far at least, Ratcliffe’s missive, reported by The Wall Street Journal, has not moved the dial: Estonia, which borders Russia, said its “threat assessment has not changed.”
