U.S. CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a surprise trip to Moscow this week to warn Russia against attacking NATO, according to multiple media reports, amid growing fears of further escalation in the Ukraine war.

Ratcliffe’s first publicly known visit to the Russian capital as CIA chief came to light on Tuesday, when a U.S. Air Force jet was spotted arriving at a Moscow airport, and footage of a diplomatic motorcade moving through the city emerged on social media.

The purpose of Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow was first reported Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources briefed on the trip.

Politico and CBS News separately reported the same motive, citing multiple people familiar with the matter. CBS News added that Ratcliffe also brought up Iran, warning of additional sanctions if the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz does not reopen to shipping traffic.

The Trump administration has threatened Iran’s trading partners with so-called secondary sanctions as it seeks to ratchet up the pressure on Tehran’s economy following six months of war between the U.S., Israel and Iran.

China, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey are known to be among Iran’s top trading partners, while Russia has long shared close economic and military ties with Tehran.

Spokespeople for the CIA and the Russian Embassy in London were not immediately available to comment when contacted by CNBC.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday described Ratcliffe’s meeting with figures from Russia’s intelligence services as “semi-routine.” He added that “something may come out of” the Moscow visit and Washington would like to see the Russia-Ukraine war come to an end. His comments came during an interview with conservative talk show host Glenn Beck.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, meanwhile, said Ratcliffe did not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Moscow and declined to specify whether the meeting concerned issues such as Ukraine or Iran.

“I can only tell you that contacts took place through the intelligence services,” Peskov said Wednesday, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged an intensifying series of drone and missile strikes far beyond the front lines in recent weeks, amplifying fears of further escalation in the conflict.

Alongside analysts and external observers warning that Russia’s full-scale invasion could soon enter a more dangerous phase, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Putin is preparing to escalate the war.

In comments posted on X earlier this month, Zelenskyy called on the country’s partners to ramp up sanctions pressure on Moscow and provide Kyiv with further air defense support.

Russian forces have increased the number of missile strikes on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, likely as part of a push to exploit Kyiv’s shortage of ballistic missile interceptors.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly called on international partners to expedite the supply of ballistic missile interceptors to Ukraine, saying the technology could have saved the lives of those killed in Kyiv on Aug. 5.

‘Quite an unusual visit’

Katia Glod, deputy head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre think tank, said Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow was “quite an unusual visit” but not the first of its kind.

The last known visit by the head of the CIA to Moscow was in November 2021, when William Burns warned Russia against sending troops into Ukraine. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine just weeks later in late February 2022.

“I think it is indeed important that [Ratcliffe] went there. He is one of the strongest supporters of Ukraine and I think the current wave of escalation of hybrid attacks against Europe is indeed something that perhaps the U.S. also wants to have some discussion with Moscow about,” Glod told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Thursday.

“We have seen the cases recently in Germany. Again, there have been many cases in Britain and I think this just shows us that the level of communication is needed to be stepped up, because the situation … has been escalating,” she added.

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The debasement trade is experiencing a revival, and that could catapult bitcoin to a new all-time high, according to Bernstein. The flagship digital asset could surge to $300,000 per token by the end of 2029, Bernstein analysts said Wednesday in a note to clients. That’s 285%, or nearly four times, the price at which it was last trading. “Following our price-to-marginal cost framework, we would expect the next market peak to be $300K by CY2029E and the market recovering to [a] new all-time high of $150,000 by mid-2027,” analyst Gautam Chhugani said in the note. The forecast comes as the debasement trade, or the rotation into tangible or scarce assets as a means of hedging against a weaker U.S. dollar, gains traction due to concerns over the size of the national debt and stubborn inflation. Earlier this month, U.S. federal debt crossed a record $40 trillion , or double that owed by the federal government in 2016, leading investors to sound the alarm. Shortly after, the Treasury Department increased debt buybacks in a move to cap bond yields, further stoking concern that the dollar is set to weaken. As a result, Bitcoin is once again gaining ground, with the token on Monday topping $80,000 for the first time since May. Bitcoin was last trading at $78,045.70, up 21% over the past month. BTC.CM= 1M mountain Bitcoin has risen 21% over the past month. That rally could also benefit Strategy Inc. , the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, and its high-yield perpetual preferred stock, according to Bernstein. “Strategy remains the largest corporate owner of Bitcoin owning ~4% of world’s BTC. Strategy’s balance sheet has stabilized leading to ~3.9 times annual dividend cash cover and STRC [Short Duration High Yield Credit Stretch perpetual preferred stock] recovering to $97,” Chhugani wrote. “If the Bitcoin strength continues with STRC recovering back to the $100, we could see Strategy going kinetic again with Bitcoin purchases.” Bernstein has an outperform rating on Strategy and although it lowered its 12-month price target on the stock to $350 from $450, that still implies 176% upside from Tuesday’s close. The investment firm’s call matches the consensus on Wall Street, where 18 of 20 analysts covering Strategy rate the stock a buy or strong buy, LSEG data shows. Strategy shares are down nearly 20% year to date and 65% lower than where they traded a year ago.

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