Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has said the Moscow visit by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe was aimed at reducing tensions in the region and that the meeting met the objectives set for it.
He told reporters in Vilnius on August 31 that Lithuania had no reason to be concerned and that its overall security situation had not changed as a result of the trip.
“I generally think that a little too much attention is being paid to this meeting,” Nausėda said in remarks reported by Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT.
He said he hoped the message delivered in the Russian capital had reached the Kremlin at the right time.
Nausėda said allies had briefed Vilnius on the content of the talks and had told it in advance that the meeting would go ahead. He added that Lithuania respected Washington’s decision not to disclose the details publicly.
Ratcliffe flew to Moscow on August 25 in a trip that was not announced beforehand, the first known visit by a US intelligence chief since William Burns travelled there in November 2021.
The Wall Street Journal and CBS News reported that he had warned Russia against attacking NATO members, citing US assessments that Moscow could seek to test the alliance.
CBS also reported that Ratcliffe pressed Russia over Iran, warning of further sanctions if the Strait of Hormuz did not reopen to shipping.
The Kremlin has denied any plans to attack the alliance, dismissing the reporting as scare stories, and said Ratcliffe met Russian intelligence officials but not Vladimir Putin.
Nausėda acknowledged that the meeting was significant and that such contacts were rare, though he rejected the idea that tension had risen dramatically in recent weeks.
He said the situation had been tense since Ukraine began striking targets deep inside Russian territory, which in his view was pushing the Kremlin into a corner.
Any cornered actor could try to strike back and create an additional threat, he said, arguing that this was why NATO and the United States existed.
The visit comes as European intelligence services warn that Russia could be capable of a large-scale attack on alliance territory by 2029, an assessment that underpins the European Union’s Readiness 2030 drive and its accompanying ReArm Europe plan.
Lithuania borders both Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, and has been among the loudest EU voices calling for higher defence spending across the bloc.
The Lithuanian Government’s ruling parties pledged on August 31 to keep military spending at 5 per cent of GDP, LRT reported.
