Journalist Hubert Seipel said that, despite the fact that he received money from Russia, “it did not affect” his materials about the Russian Federation.
German journalists have found evidence of Russian funding for Kremlin-leaning ARD journalist Hubert Seipel. He is considered one of the leading “experts on Russia” in Germany. This was stated in a joint investigation by the German publications Spiegel and ZDF.
Hubert Seipel positioned himself on a talk show as one of the best experts on Putin’s Russia and a Western journalist with perhaps the greatest access to the Kremlin leader.
In 2009, Seipel released a documentary about Gazprom, when his first meeting with Putin took place. The journalist said that he spent the night at the Kremlin leader’s residence and played billiards with him at night.
Since then, he said, he has met Russian President Vladimir Putin nearly a hundred times, including accompanying him on a hunting trip to Siberia, taking footage of him playing hockey, practicing judo and swimming pools. , and writing two books about Russia and Putin.
In November 2014, Seipel aired a half-hour prime-time interview with Putin.
A few weeks before February 24, 2022, Seipel argued that NATO was “around Putin” and expressed confidence that he would not start a war.
Journalists have access to data known as Cyprus Confidential. Among these documents is evidence that Seipel received significant funding from Russia to write a book as far back as 2018. Putin’s power. Why Europe needs Russiareleased in 2021.
Seipel was supposed to receive 600 thousand euros in three tranches in 2018-2020, but in the end the money was paid in two transfers – in April 2018 and the remaining 400 thousand – in April 2019.
There was a similar sponsorship contract in 2013 – for a book of Putin’s biography. Both are published by a reputable German publishing house.
The money was paid through a company registered in the Virgin Islands, De Vere Worldwide Corporation, whose real owner is considered to be Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov. Before the funds were transferred to Seipel, money from other companies from Mordashov’s orbit entered the accounts of this company.
Seipel insists that money from the Russian Federation has not influenced the way he speaks about Russia on ARD and in his books.
As previously reported, Russian journalist and publicist Armen Gasparyan received the first suspicion in Ukraine of public calls for the genocide of the Ukrainian people. The suspicion was announced to him in absentia in April 2022.
Canada imposes sanctions against Russian propagandists
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.