CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Russia aboard US military C-17 transport plane - report

The last direct flight of a US-registered jet from Europe to Russia took place in January this year, carrying special envoys Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner for peace talks with Vladimir Putin.

A US military transport plane landed at Moscow's Vnukovo airport on Tuesday, data from the flight tracking service Flightradar24 showed.

The large Boeing C-17 Globemaster, with the US-registered tail number 07-7181, flew direct from Riga, Latvia, and landed in Moscow around 9:00 a.m. local time.

Unverified footage posted on X/Twitter appears to show the aircraft on approach over a Russian town near the airport.

Reuters could not verify whether it carried any cargo or passengers.

The Kremlin said it had no information on the plane.

The aircraft arrived in Riga on August 23 from the US Camp Springs airbase near Washington, DC, Flightradar24 data showed.

C-17's arrival marks first direct flight by US aircraft to Russia since January

The last direct flight of a US-registered jet to Russia from Europe took place in January this year, carrying special envoys Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner for peace talks with Vladimir Putin on Ukraine.

The Kremlin said last week it had no information yet about another visit to Moscow by Kushner and Witkoff, as talks between the US and Russia on Ukraine have largely stalled.