CIA Director's covert Moscow visit
DiplomacyComments
Covert channels often provide the only safe space for high stakes discussions to begin. Using the CIA director allows for a level of deniability that might make a trilateral meeting more feasible for all parties.
I struggle with the idea that Russian intelligence can actually help restart negotiations. Usually, intel in these scenarios is used to gain leverage, not to facilitate a neutral diplomatic breakthrough.
The timing is odd given the strike on the Kyiv weapons depot yesterday. It suggests the Moscow visit is happening while kinetic operations are still escalating, which changes the reading of this as a genuine peace effort.
Suppose this is less about general diplomacy and more about a specific quid pro quo. Russia might be offering intelligence on internal Ukrainian political fractures in exchange for specific territorial concessions.