A United States (U.S.) military transport landed in Moscow in a mystery flight from Latvia on Tuesday, August 25, 2026. This comes amid unconfirmed reports that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe is also in Russia for undisclosed meetings. The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III landed at Moscow's Vnukovo airport after flying directly from Riga, Latvia, according to Flightradar24 data. The aircraft carried the U.S. registration 07-7181. It took off from Camp Springs, Maryland, near Washington, for Latvia on August 23, and two days later, it flew again and landed in Moscow.
It remains unclear who was aboard the plane or whether it was carrying cargo. When asked about the American military plane's landing in Moscow, the Kremlin replied, "We have no information." Earlier, CBS News and Axios reported that the CIA chief was in the Russian capital for meetings.
Neither the CIA nor the Kremlin publicly confirmed the visit or disclosed who Ratcliffe was meeting. Ratcliffe's reported presence is particularly significant because the unusual flight comes at a sensitive point in U.S.-Russia relations. The last known direct flight by a U.S.-registered aircraft from Europe to Russia took place in January, when U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner traveled to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine. Those talks have since stalled, while the Kremlin said last week that it had no information about another planned Moscow visit by Witkoff and Kushner.
For now, Washington has not explained the C-17's mission, while Moscow says it has no information about the aircraft. The reported visit by the CIA chief, however, has added a new layer to an already unusual flight.