Putin Signed Three Classified Decrees On The Day Of The CIA Director’s Visit

Exactly what the talks were about remains unclear.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed three classified decrees amid the unexpected and unannounced visit to Moscow by the head of the U.S. CIA John Ratcliffe. This is reported by the Russian Federation’s legal information portal, as noted by The Moscow Times.

According to the portal, on August 25, Putin signed three public decrees—Nos. 608, 609, and 610. Two of them concern the replacement of the Russian ambassador to Iraq, while the third changes the composition of the commissions on the affairs of people with disabilities and veterans.

Meanwhile, Putin’s most recent decree, signed the day before, on August 24, is numbered 604. It authorizes the state to take virtually any facilities or enterprises under “temporary administration” if their owners have failed to provide adequate protection against drone attacks. Thus, three more of Putin’s decrees were signed but have not been published on the portal and remain classified: Nos. 605, 606, and 607.

During a visit to Moscow—his first since the start of the invasion of Ukraine—the CIA director met with Putin; for this meeting, the president canceled an event for which “hundreds of people” had been preparing, according to Kremlin pool correspondent Alexander Yunashov.

Exactly what was discussed remains unclear. The Wall Street Journal reports that Ratcliffe may have delivered a warning to Putin regarding U.S. intelligence data indicating that the Kremlin is preparing a new round of mobilization and a possible provocation against NATO.

The iPaper links Ratcliffe’s visit to a possible prisoner exchange. In February, with the CIA’s assistance, 63-year-old schoolteacher Mark Vogel, who had been convicted of drug smuggling, was released from a Russian prison, and earlier—journalist Evan Gershkovich and Marine Paul Whelan, who were convicted of espionage.

At the same time as Ratcliffe, the Vatican’s Secretary for International Affairs, Paul Richard Gallagher, was in Moscow. He held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and expressed his readiness to “use all available means” to facilitate a resolution in Ukraine.

“We are ready to offer our good offices in any way possible in the hope that the much-desired peace can be achieved as soon as possible,” Gallagher said, adding that common ground had been found during his meeting with Lavrov.

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