Kash Patel May Become First FBI Director to Visit Russia Since 2013 With Tentative October Trip

FBI Director Kash Patel is planning a trip to Russia this October, a visit that would make him the first bureau chief to set foot in the country since 2013, at a time when US-Russia relations are frozen over the war in Ukraine. The tentative 14–15 October window would take Patel to Moscow and St Petersburg, with the FSB expected to host him.

Should the visit happen, Patel would be the first FBI director to set foot in Russia since Robert Mueller's trip back in 2013.

Trip Comes Amid Ukraine Deadlock

The timing is notable. Relations between Washington and Moscow remain strained over the unresolved war in Ukraine, with members of Congress pressing for harsher sanctions on Moscow.

One of the two people briefed on the plans said Patel is expected to be hosted by the FSB, the agency that took over the old KGB's domestic security functions after the Soviet collapse.

Whether a sit-down with Putin himself, or with figures close to him, is on the cards has not been confirmed. Neither has the substance of any talks. Both people who spoke about the trip did so on condition of anonymity given the delicate nature of the plans, and cautioned that scheduling of this kind can still shift closer to the date.

The White House pointed Politico's enquiry towards the FBI when asked to comment. Neither the FBI nor the Department of Justice had responded to the outlet by the time of publication.

Patel's History With Russia Allegations

Patel's connection to Russia-related controversy goes back years. Between 2017 and 2018 he worked on the House Intelligence Committee's inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election. He has repeatedly pushed back on the findings of that period, a stance he sums up using the term 'Russiagate hoax'.

FBI chiefs have generally stayed clear of Moscow even as other top US intelligence figures made the journey. Then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo wrote in a 2018 letter that keeping communication channels open with Russia had its uses, particularly around shared priorities like counterterrorism.

'We vigorously defend America in these encounters and pull no punches,' Pompeo said at the time.

Wider Scrutiny Over Travel

The Russia trip news lands against a backdrop of existing questions over how Patel uses government resources for travel. Earlier this month, Representative Jamie Raskin and Senator Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, opened a joint inquiry into his spending.

Their announcement referenced an earlier private letter sent to Patel by Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, which raised questions over his use of FBI aircraft and the bureau's purchase of armoured BMWs, according to the House Judiciary Committee Democrats' release.

Patel's travel choices have already made headlines this year, including a Winter Olympics hockey final in Italy that he said was tied to extraditing a hacker from China, and a snorkelling outing near a sunken battleship at Pearl Harbor.

If the trip goes ahead, it would end a 13-year gap since an FBI director last visited Russia and would almost certainly prompt fresh questions in Congress about the bureau's engagement with a country US intelligence agencies continue to link to election interference.