Jeffrey Epstein attempted to meet or speak with senior Russian officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, new documents released by the US Department of Justice have allegedly revealed.
According to CNN, Epstein met regularly with Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, in New York. According to the documents, Epstein even offered to help Churkin’s son Maxim get a job at a wealth management firm in New York.
Churkin “died suddenly” in 2017, CNN reported, adding that Epstein is now seeking an interview with another Russian official: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The documents reportedly revealed that on June 24, 2018 – a year after Churkin died suddenly – Epstein sent an email to Norwegian politician Thorbjørn Jagland, then Secretary General of the Council of Europe: “I think you could suggest that Putin, that Lavrov, could get insight into how he spoke to me. Vitaly Churkin used (it), but he died.?”
Jagland replied that he would meet with Lavrov’s aide next Monday and propose it.
Epstein responded, according to CNN, “Churkin was great. He understood Trump after (our) conversations. It’s not complicated. It has to be seen that he gets something that simple.”
The report further noted that while Epstein’s interest in intelligence models from Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe had previously come to light, the latest release of the documents offered new insight into his attempts to approach senior Russian officials.
A message to Putin on behalf of Epstein
Jeffrey Epstein had a message to deliver to Russian President Vladimir Putin, CNN reported.
On May 9, 2013, according to the documents, Epstein wrote to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak that Norwegian politician Thorbjørn Jagland “will see Putin in Sochi on May 20” and that Jagland asked if Epstein would make himself available to meet with the Russian president “to explain how Russia can structure deals to encourage Western states.”
“I never met him, I just wanted you to know,” Epstein added in his email to Barak.
A few days later, Jagland told Epstein on May 14, 2013, that he planned to give Putin a message on Epstein’s behalf that Epstein might be useful.
“I have a friend who can help you make the necessary arrangements (and then introduce you) and ask (if) he is interested in meeting you,” Jagland wrote in an email to Epstein.
Epstein replied, “He’s in a unique position to do something big like Sputnik did for the space race, you can tell him that you and I are close and that I’m advising Gates. That’s confidential. I’d like to meet him, but at least for two to three hours, not less.”
However, in another email to Barak dated May 21, 2013, Epstein claimed, without providing evidence, that he had rejected Putin’s request to meet during a Russian economic conference in St. Petersburg.
Epstein reportedly said that if Putin wanted to meet with him, “he would have to set aside real time and privacy.” (It is unclear whether Putin actually ever asked to meet with Epstein.)
Epstein, a Russian spy?
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a cabinet meeting this week that his country would launch an investigation into Epstein’s possible ties to Russian intelligence.
“More and more clues, more and more information and more and more comments in the world’s press all relate to the suspicion that this unprecedented pedophilia scandal was co-organized by the Russian intelligence services,” Tuska was quoted as saying by CNN.
He added: “I don’t need to tell you how serious the increasingly likely possibility that this operation was co-organized by Russian intelligence services is for the security of the Polish state.”
“This can only mean that they also have compromising materials against many leaders who are still active today,” he said.
However, the documents do not indicate whether Epstein ever made contact with the Russian leader.
How did Russia react?
The Kremlin has rejected suggestions that Epstein was a spy for Russia, according to CNN.
“The theory that Epstein was controlled by Russian intelligence services can be taken either way, but not seriously,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.
Peskov added that reporters should not “waste time” investigating allegations that Epstein had ties to Russian intelligence.
