Jeffrey Epstein had a message he wanted to get to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It was June 2018 – about a year after Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin had suddenly died. Churkin had been someone Epstein met with regularly in New York, according to new documents released by the Department of Justice, and Epstein had even offered to help Churkin’s son, Maxim, get a job at a wealth management firm in New York.
Now Epstein was looking to talk with a different Russian official: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. On June 24, 2018, Epstein emailed Norwegian politician Thorbjørn Jagland, then the secretary general of the Council of Europe, “I think you might suggest to putin, that lavrov, can get insight on talking to me. vitaly churkin used (to) but he died. ?!”
Jagland answered that he would meet with Lavrov’s assistant the following Monday and suggest it.
Epstein replied: “churkin was great. he understood trump after [our] conversations. it is not complex. he must be seen to get something its that simple.”
While Epstein’s interest in scouting models from Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe had previously come to light, the latest release of documents related to the disgraced financier offers new insight into his attempts to draw closer to high-ranking Russian officials, including Putin, who Epstein tried to meet or speak with multiple times.
The new tranche of documents showing more of Epstein’s communications with international politicians, including Russian officials, has led to more speculation about the billionaire’s motives. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a cabinet meeting this week that his country will be launching an investigation into Epstein’s possible ties with Russian intelligence.
“More and more leads, more and more information, and more and more commentary in the global press all relate to the suspicion that this unprecedented pedophilia scandal was co-organized by Russian intelligence services,” Tusk said.
“I don’t need to tell you how serious the increasingly likely possibility that Russian intelligence services co-organized this operation is for the security of the Polish state,” Tusk added. “This can only mean that they also possess compromising materials against many leaders still active today.”
The Kremlin dismissed suggestions that Epstein was a spy for Russia.
“The theory that Epstein was controlled by Russian intelligence services can be taken in any way, but not seriously,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday. Peskov added that reporters should “not waste time” looking into allegations Epstein had links to Russian intelligence.
Analysts cautioned to CNN that the documents suggest little more than Epstein trying to rub shoulders with influential figures and position himself as a sort of geopolitical power player.
The documents do not indicate whether Epstein ever succeeded in connecting with the Russian leader.
On May 9, 2013, according to the documents, Epstein wrote to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak that Jagland “is going to 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 in order to encourage western investment.”
“I never met him, 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 pass a message to Putin on Epstein’s behalf that Epstein could be useful. “I have a friend that can help you to take the necessary measures (and then present you) and ask [whether] it is interesting for him to meet with you,” Jagland wrote in an email to Epstein.
Epstein replied: “He is in a unique position to do something grand, like sputnik did for the space race, You can tell him that you and I are close , and that i advise Gates . this is confidential, . I would be happy to meet him , but for a minimum of two to three hours, not shorter.”
Through a spokesperson, billionaire Bill Gates has publicly described meeting with Epstein as a “serious error in judgment” but denied any improper conduct.
But in another email to Barak on May 21, 2013, Epstein claimed without providing evidence that he denied a request from Putin to meet during a Russian economic conference in St. Peterburg. Epstein said that if Putin wanted to meet with him, he would “need to set aside real time and privacy.” (It’s unclear if Putin indeed ever requested to meet with Epstein.)
CNN has reached out to the Kremlin for comment on Epstein’s correspondence with Barak.
More than a year later, in July 2014, an email to Epstein suggests that he had an upcoming scheduled meeting with Putin and had invited the LinkedIn founder to join. Joi Ito, then the director of the MIT Media Lab, wrote to Epstein, “I wasn’t able to convince Reid to change his schedule to go to meet Putin with you. ;-)”
Ito previously issued an apology for his association with Epstein and for accepting funding for the MIT Media Lab.
Some of Epstein’s communications with prominent Russians came at a sensitive time in US-Russia relations – after the US intelligence community accused Russia of interfering in the 2016 presidential election, which Donald Trump won.
In June 2018, Jagland emailed Epstein that he hoped to stay at his residence in Paris and that he would be coming from Moscow, where he planned to meet with Putin, Lavrov and Dmitry Medvedev, then the prime minister of Russia.
“i m just sorry im not with you to meet the Russians,” Epstein replied.
On Thursday, Norway’s investigative unit Økokrim announced it had opened an investigation into Jagland based on information in the Epstein documents.
In a statement, Jagland’s lawyer Anders Brosveet said his client would cooperate with the investigation and provide “key findings and the relevant documentation” to the agency. “Based on what we have uncovered so far, we remain confident about the outcome,” Brosveet said.
Jagland has denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein.
The documents suggest that Epstein had a close relationship with at least one Russian who had ties to the FSB – Russia’s main security service and successor to the KGB. Epstein referred to Sergey Belyakov, who Russian state news agency TASS said graduated from the FSB Academy in Moscow in 1999, as “my very good friend” in a 2015 email to billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel.
The documents show Epstein had offered to introduce him to Belyakov, who was running the St. Petersburg Economic Forum Foundation at the time, responsible for organizing Russia’s largest economic conference.
After attending the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in 2015, Barak, the former Israeli prime minister, reported back to Epstein that he’d met with several Russian officials, including Lavrov; the head of Russia’s central bank, Elvira Nabiullina; and several other heads of Russian banks.
“Thx for (setting) the whole thing together,” Barak wrote in an email to Epstein.
Barak’s office told CNN in a statement, the former Israeli prime minister’s visits to SPIEF “were always under invitation” of Putin’s office. The statement said Epstein was interested in Russian affairs and in meeting Putin but Barak “never raised” Epstein’s name with the Kremlin but “occasionally discussed” world affairs with him and “mentioned some people he met.”
In a 2016 exchange between Belyakov and Epstein, Belyakov tells Epstein that he has started a new position with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) – the country’s sovereign wealth fund – and that he was looking to attract investment for Russian projects.
“I will do anything [that] is helpful to you,” Epstein wrote to Belyakov in another email later that same week.
Epstein had also turned to Belyakov for help at least once. In a 2015 correspondence, Epstein wrote to Belyakov that a Russian “girl” from Moscow was attempting to blackmail a “group of powerful” businessmen in New York and “it is bad for business for everyone involved.” Epstein then told Belyakov when the woman arrived in New York and what hotel she was staying at, asking, “Suggestions?”.
CNN is attempting to contact Belyakov and has reached out to RDIF for comment.
Epstein also claimed to offer advice for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. In a 2018 email with Jide Zeitlin, the former CEO of Coach and a private investor, Zeitlin thanks Epstein for his “thoughts re Deripaska,” who had been sanctioned by the US just a month earlier. Epstein then forwarded the correspondence to Steve Bannon, formerly Trump’s chief strategist.
“Just keeping you in the loop,” Epstein wrote to Bannon.
An email from November 2010 included in the files references an effort by someone claiming to be an assistant for Epstein attempting to set up a meeting between Epstein and someone referred to as “Oleg.”
“I’m writing to see what the possibilities are of =effrey and Oleg to meet in Moscow next week Tuesday or Wednesday? Or =ossibly Oleg has plans to be in Paris next week?” The person wrote. The names of both the sender and recipient are redacted in the released files.
It’s unclear whether Epstein and Deripaska were ever in contact or ever met. Deripaska’s spokesperson told Bloomberg he didn’t personally know Epstein; CNN has reached out for a comment.
Another Russian in Epstein’s orbit was Masha Drokova Bucher, a 37-year-old venture capitalist who was a publicist for Epstein in 2017, helping him in the wake of his 2008 conviction on solicitation of prostitution. Bucher was known in Russia as a member of Nashi, a pro-Putin youth group, where she even got her own TV show. She was featured in a 2012 documentary about the movement called Putin’s Kiss, a reference to a famous moment when she kissed Putin on the cheek.
Bucher has since said she left the movement and gave up her Russian citizenship in 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine.
She and Epstein appeared to have a close relationship. In 2017, she asked Epstein in an email if he’d heard anything about potential sanctions on companies with research and development in Russia because it could affect “some good friends.” He then told her he’d introduce her to Thiel.
Bucher later sent Epstein videos of her singing and told him she was “recharged” from not “doing any substances for a while.” She credited Epstein for helping her establish her Day One Ventures fund in 2018.
“Been thinking about all good things you taught me,” she said in a 2019 text message to Epstein. “I would never create my fund without the ideas and knowledge you shared with me and I do much love my work. thank you for being such a great friend Jeffrey!”
In 2022, The Washington Post reported that Bucher’s pitches to investors boasted of her connections to Russian oligarchs, but she has dismissed those allegations and denied having any Russian funding.
Bucher has not responded to CNN’s request for comment on her connections to Epstein. Thiel did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
While it’s not clear exactly how often Epstein traveled to Russia, flight logs analyzed by CNN and published by the Justice Department confirm he did visit the country. Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell traveled to Russia between November 22 and 24 of 2002, flying from Copenhagen to Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport on Epstein’s personal aircraft, according to flight logs and a 2018 email published by the Justice Department. The pair then flew to St. Petersburg, landing at Pulkovo Airport the same day. Then, on November 24, the flight log shows that both departed on the same aircraft for Ireland.
A photo uploaded on Esther Dyson’s Flickr account in 2005 shows Epstein in Sarov, Russia, standing in front of Andrei Sakharov’s cottage. Sakharov worked on the Soviet hydrogen bomb and later became known as a dissident. The photo geolocated by CNN is timestamped April 28, 1998, though CNN cannot independently verify the date it was captured.
Dyson, who was involved in startups in Eastern Europe and Russia at the time, confirmed the authenticity of the photo. Sarov is a Russian town housing a closed center for nuclear research – and Epstein was known to have had a keen interest in science and technology.
Epstein later reapplied for a Russian visa in 2018, according to emails released by the Justice Department. Another email indicates that his team asked about transferring his valid Russian visa to a new passport in March 2019, just months before his arrest on federal charges related to sex trafficking of minors.
CNN’s Nathan Hodge and Farida Elsebai contributed to this report.
