The C.I.A. director went to Moscow. He did not see Putin. The Kremlin says that is fine.

MOSCOW — C.I.A. Director John Ratcliffe held talks with Russian intelligence officials in Moscow on Tuesday and did not meet Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday. Peskov said Putin had been briefed. The visit lands as the war in Ukraine escalates and as U.S.–Iran diplomacy, such as it is, stalls.

Spy chiefs visit each other more often than the movies suggest. The visits are usually about channels: prisoners, red lines, the telephone that might ring at 3 a.m. They are not peace conferences. Anyone selling this meeting as a breakthrough is selling. Anyone selling it as treason is also selling. It is a channel. Channels exist because the alternative is guessing.