This is an interesting take. No idea if it's accurate, but something to consider. From a German.
Translation:
Tweet 1: "The reports published tonight by at least 3 US media outlets (WSJ, Politico, CBS News) on the "true" background of CIA Director Ratcliffe's visit to Moscow all speak of a timeline for possible RU attacks "in the next few years" on NATO territory.
They all consistently report on a clear warning personally issued by the US administration through the intelligence chief; they merely vary in the form of the attacks. From cyber to hybrid, up to a possible invasion of a Baltic country. But the consistently described timeline doesn't really match this rather sudden and urgent manner of the trip. The reports were also all published more or less within one hour of each other.
That smells like a deliberately placed "story" to the media so they'll stop "digging." There's something more important and above all more urgent behind it that, for whatever reasons, isn't supposed to reach the public right now. The narrative so far just doesn't add up at either end.
Between August 18-20, NATO launched a massive air operation in the area of Russian Kaliningrad for three days in a row; in particular, a massive deployment of submarine-hunting aircraft was observed off the British coast and over the Baltic Sea, as several OSINT accounts have consistently reported. So far, not much is really known in detail about the true background.
Whatever happened there, it fits much better for me with a sudden visit by the CIA Director to Moscow and a direct warning to the Kremlin. If you combine that with the incident at Leipzig Airport and other hybrid incidents on NATO territory in Europe in recent times, such a sudden trip with a clear personal message at the highest level seems far more plausible to me.
In my view, it wasn't about whatever things the Russians "might try in the next few years," but about things that are currently happening right now. If anyone were in a position to draw a "red line" on behalf of the US and also the NATO allies, and credibly convey that warning to the Kremlin, it would be this person: Ratcliffe."
Tweet 2: "Also a report from 18.08.2026:
Russian Frigate Carrying Kalibr and Zircon Missiles Spotted off Germany's Coast
According to The Telegraph, the Russian frigate Admiral Kasatonov was sighted last week near the German island of Fehmarn in the Baltic Sea. The warship is capable of carrying Kalibr cruise missiles and Zircon hypersonic missiles.
The ship's tracker was switched off, so its current location is unknown. This is already the second incident of this kind in the past month: At the end of July, the Russian anti-submarine ship Admiral Levchenko was also sighted in the Baltic Sea."
