Axios: CIA Director Floated Trump–Putin–Zelensky Summit in Moscow, but Russia Rejected Idea
During a visit to Moscow, CIA Director John Ratcliffe explored whether Russia would accept a three‑way summit involving Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, Axios reports. Russian officials turned down the proposal, underlining how even the format of potential talks over the war in Ukraine remains contested.
A recent trip to Moscow by CIA Director John Ratcliffe included a quietly ambitious proposal, according to U.S. outlet Axios: a potential three‑way summit between Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.
Axios reports that Ratcliffe’s visit was partly aimed at determining whether senior figures in Russia’s security services could help persuade Putin to take part in such a meeting. The proposed format would have put the leaders of the United States, Russia and Ukraine at one table while Russia’s full‑scale war in Ukraine continues.
According to the same account, Russian officials rejected the idea of a trilateral summit. The report says Moscow declined the U.S. suggestion, meaning there was no agreement even on holding the meeting, let alone on its agenda.
The overture indicates that Washington has been probing not only the substance of possible negotiations, but also who should be present if talks ever happen. A summit involving Trump, Putin and Zelensky would differ sharply from formats that treat the conflict as primarily a matter between Moscow and Kyiv, or as a confrontation between Russia and the West.
From Russia’s side, turning down the proposal keeps it from endorsing a setting in which Ukraine appears as an equal partner alongside the U.S. and Russia. The refusal is in line with Moscow’s broader efforts to control how the war and any talks about it are framed.
The use of the CIA director as the messenger also points to how this initiative was handled: through an intelligence channel rather than public or formal diplomatic announcements. That allowed Washington to test Moscow’s reaction without the political cost of a failed, high‑profile proposal.
The episode underlines how far apart the sides remain, not just on a possible settlement, but on basic questions about who should sit at the negotiating table. Without agreement on participants and format, the prospect of substantive talks remains distant.
Signals to watch now are whether any of the governments involved publicly confirm or comment on the Axios report, whether similar ideas resurface through other channels, and how Kyiv positions itself regarding any future proposals for three‑way or broader summit formats.
Sources
- OSINT