Newly published documents by the US Department of Justice have once again raised questions on so called Russian ties of the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after it had been revealed that the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin appears over 1,000 times in millions of pages of his correspondence.
Epstein Files: New Docs Reveal His Shocking Desires, Secret Russia Strategies
According to the documents, Epstein constantly attempted to arrange a meeting with Putin, whereas there is no record of the two ever seeing each other. According to the emails, Epstein attempted to work as a person who could provide information to the West about how to invest and do business with Russia, especially at a tense stage of the US-Russia relations, after the accusations of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.
The files also indicate that Epstein was in touch with the seniors in the Russian hierarchy and diplomats. A frequent contact, until the death of the former UN ambassador of Russia Vitaly Churkin in 2017, was also reportedly Epstein, who even offered to assist the son of Churkin in finding a job in New York. Later on, Epstein attempted to make contacts with Norwegian politician Thorbjorn Jagland who was the secretary general of the Council of Europe, hoping he would make contacts with Russians who could introduce him to the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and to Putin himself. According to the emails, Epstein apparently thought he would be able to influence discussions between Moscow and the Western elites, posing as a secret confidaler with contacts worldwide.
‘Theory of Epstein being a Russian Intelligence Agent’
The scandal has generated political response in Europe. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that Poland would look into whether Epstein had potential connections with Russian intelligence due to the rising international concern that the scandal might have had geopolitical implications. Such claims have however been strongly opposed by the Kremlin. The theory of Epstein being a Russian intelligence agent was dismissed by Peskov, the spokesperson of the Kremlin, as not serious and ridiculed the theory. Although having been interested in hiring Eastern European models in the past has been revealed, the new line of papers hints at the idea of being more involved into senior Russian officials- making it controversial whether he had personal, financial or some other ulterior motive in doing so, or it was all part of some more hidden agenda.
