The reported trip

MS NOW reported on Wednesday, 14 October, that FBI director Kash Patel had flown to Moscow to meet representatives of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), citing people familiar with the matter. The network said the visit would last two days and cover both Moscow and St Petersburg, with the FSB as host. Politico reported that the FSB leadership arranged the meetings, and it is not known whether a conversation with Vladimir Putin is planned. Neither the FBI nor the White House has confirmed that the visit took place, and no official program, purpose or list of topics has been released. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said visits by security officials are usually not announced in advance and gave no details of the meetings.

Earlier signals and the wider context

Reuters reported on 5 August that Patel could visit Russia in October. According to that agency, over the previous year Patel had been developing new channels of cooperation between US law enforcement and their counterparts in Russia and China, with a focus on transnational crime. Reuters said this departs from Washington's previous policy and worries parts of the US intelligence community, which regards Russia and China as the main geopolitical rivals of the United States. In the August interview Patel spoke of working with "non-traditional partners" such as Russia and China, while noting that the FBI was aware of their hostile attitude. Robert Mueller's visit in 2013 was the last publicly known trip to Russia by an FBI director, which makes Patel the first head of the bureau to go in 13 years.

Ratcliffe's trip and the pressure in Congress

CIA director John Ratcliffe was in Moscow on 25 August, and President Donald Trump described that trip as part of routine work. The Kremlin said it concerned cooperation between Russian and American security services, and Peskov had said then that no separate contacts with senior US administration officials were planned. According to unofficial reports, Ratcliffe discussed the war in Ukraine, Russian sabotage attacks on NATO states and the situation in the Middle East. Democratic congressmen Jamie Raskin and Jim Himes urged Patel to cancel the trip, asking why the head of the FBI would travel to a country accused of war crimes, of interference in US elections and of helping US adversaries kill American soldiers. They also accused him of pro-Russian sympathies. Patel has not answered their appeal or internal suggestions that he call off the trip, and The Atlantic had reported concerns among lawmakers and FBI officials.

Patel's profile and what comes next

Patel built his standing in Donald Trump's circle through his work and through Republican investigations in Congress aimed at discrediting the inquiry into contacts between Trump associates and the Kremlin. Reports put the visit on 14 and 15 October, with stops in Moscow and St Petersburg. The FBI and White House have yet to confirm the trip, and the Kremlin has not described what will be discussed. Whether any of the meetings will involve Vladimir Putin remains unknown.