Senior Russian officials and business figures, including a former graduate of Russia’s Federal Security Services Academy, cultivated relationships with Jeffrey Epstein, according to a trove of documents newly released by the Justice Department, expanding the scope of international contacts by the late financier and convicted sex offender.
The documents reveal that several high-profile Russians met and corresponded directly with Epstein, and that Epstein made repeated efforts over multiple years to arrange a meeting with President Vladimir Putin. They also include evidence that Epstein enlisted a former leader of a pro-Kremlin youth movement who was once awarded a medal by Putin to help improve his public image.
In response to the disclosures, Poland opened an inquiry into possible links between Epstein and Russian intelligence services, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday.
The Kremlin dismissed the move, with a spokesperson saying that the allegations of ties between Epstein and Russian intelligence “deserve nothing but jokes” and did not merit serious comment.
Vladimir Putin
Putin’s name appears more than 1,000 times in the released Epstein files, but the majority of those references come from news clippings and media digests Epstein received rather than his personal correspondence.
Epstein’s private emails, however, show repeated attempts in the 2010′s to arrange a meeting with the Russian president, often through former Norwegian prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland. There is no evidence in the Justice Department files that such a meeting ever took place.
In a 2013 email to former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, Epstein said he had been invited to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) — an annual conference designed to attract foreign investment in Russia that Putin always attends — but Epstein claimed he declined. Referring to Putin, Epstein wrote: “If he wants to meet he will need to set aside real time and privacy.”
Correspondence with Jagland that year shows Epstein urging him to raise the prospect of a meeting during an upcoming visit to Moscow. “I know you are going to meet Putin on the 20th. He is desperate to engage western investment in his country … I have his solution,” Epstein wrote. Follow-up emails suggest no progress, with Epstein later complaining he received no response.
In January 2014, Jagland told Epstein he would be meeting Putin in the southern Russian city of Sochi and asked, “Why don’t you come?” The files do not indicate whether Epstein pursued the invitation. But in July of that year, he was still seeking introductions. One contact wrote that he had been unable to persuade a third party to change plans “to go meet Putin with you.”
Epstein replied: “Bad idea now after plane crash” — an apparent reference to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down days earlier in eastern Ukraine.
In July 2015, Epstein again asked Jagland for help arranging a meeting “to talk economy.” Similar requests appear sporadically in 2016 and 2017 and, as late as June 2018, Epstein was still writing: “Would love to meet with Putin.”
Sergey Belyakov
The Justice Department files show that from May 2014 into 2018, a high-ranking graduate of Russia’s Federal Security Services Academy, Sergey Belyakov, cultivated a close relationship with Epstein.
At the time, Belyakov was serving as Russia’s deputy economic development minister, and he appeared delighted with his new friendship, telling Epstein in a May 4, 2014 message: “Our meeting was really interesting for me! I do not know many people like you, who can open new horizons and prospects.” Soon after, Epstein invited Belyakov for dinner at his home in New York City, and Belyakov thanked Epstein for a gift.
From then on, the two men appeared to maintain a close friendship with Belyakov inviting Epstein several times to attend SPIEF, from 2015, which Belyakov ran during that year. At the same time, Epstein introduced Belyakov to other senior figures in his circle, according to the correspondence, including, in April 2015, Barak, the former Israeli prime minister. In July 2015, he arranged for Belyakov to meet the American tech billionaire Peter Thiel in California.
Later that same month, Epstein turned to Belyakov for assistance with a serious problem, the documents show: “I need a favor,” Epstein wrote in a July 24 2015 message to Belyakov. “There is a russian girl from Moscow. She is attempting to blackmail a group of powerful businessmen in New York. It is bad for business for everyone involved … Suggestions?”
In a later note, Epstein explained that the woman was claiming “powerful men take advantage of women like her etc.” Belyakov’s reply suggests a growing dependency. The FSB academy graduate immediately offered assistance, saying he would meet with someone who knows the woman in question and he alleged that she was involved in the “sex and escort” business.
By 2016, the two men were discussing business, and Belyakov told Epstein in January that he had a new position at the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the Russian sovereign wealth fund, headed by powerful Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.
“In this position I’m looking for opportunities to attract money to russia and to support investors in there activities in russia and to help them make money in russia,” Belyakov wrote in the message, while also asking if Epstein was interested in investing in a new payment system, the mycelium bitcoin processor.
When Trump was first elected president in November 2016, Belyakov sent a message to Epstein titled “Congrats with your President.” Epstein replied with one word: “fun.”
Oleg Deripaska
The Justice Department files also appear to indicate that Epstein was in contact with Oleg Deripaska, a powerful Russian billionaire close to the Kremlin, who had also cultivated a friendship with Lord Peter Mandelson, a senior member of Britain’s Labour Party.
When Mandelson was the European Union Trade Commissioner in 2008, he vacationed on Deripaska’s yacht in Corfu together with Nat Rothschild, the British-born financier, raising questions about Russian oligarch efforts to cozy up to British politicians.
Other emails between Mandelson, his associate Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, Epstein and what appears to be Deripaska’s office indicate that Mandelson and Wegg-Prosser tried to use Deripaska’s contacts to acquire a last-minute visa to Russia for Epstein in 2010.
Vitaly Churkin
Epstein also appears to have assisted Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 2006 until his death in 2017 — in helping his son, Maxim, secure employment in the United States. In text exchanges, Epstein emphasized that his involvement “must be confidential.” Churkin agreed and thanked him for being “a great teacher” to his son.
In previously released document, Epstein boasted to Jagland that he had given Churkin political advice and claimed that the diplomat “understood Trump after our conversations.” Epstein further asked Jagland to relay a message to the Kremlin suggesting officials should consult him if they wanted a better understanding of how to engage with Trump.
Maria Drokova
Maria Bucher, whose maiden name was Maria Drokova — a former teenage activist in the pro-Kremlin youth movement Nashi — befriended Jeffrey Epstein in 2017 and maintained correspondence with him until his arrest in 2019.
Drokova first gained prominence in Russia as a public-relations figure for Nashi, a nationalist youth organization created with the backing of influential Kremlin political strategist Vladislav Surkov to cultivate a strong pro-Kremlin youth base.
Drokova was later the subject of the 2011 documentary Putin’s Kiss, whose title refers to a widely publicized awards ceremony in which she received a medal from Putin and spontaneously kissed him on the cheek.
The film traces her ideological shift and growing distance from the Nashi movement. Drokova later moved to San Francisco where she rebranded herself as a media and communications consultant and, more recently, as a venture capital investor.
In 2022, The Washington Post reported that her fundraising pitches touted her ties to wealthy Russians, according to emails and pitch decks. Drokova denied writing those emails and said she did not have any Russian funding. In a comment to The Post at the time, she denounced the Nashi movement and she said had cut ties with Russian business.
In emails released by the Justice Department, Epstein said she was helping him with public relations, and the two discussed making video content and interviews with various publications to boost his image as a start-up patron with a passion for science. Epstein also appears to have given her advice on how to launch her firm, Day One Ventures, which she started in 2018. She then introduced Epstein to several Silicon Valley start-up founders in search of funding.
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