The famous German TV journalist and biographer of Vladimir Putin, Hubert Seipel, received 600,000 euros from Russia for his work and hid it from his book publisher and the public.
The German journalist received money from the Russian Federation
This became known from an investigation by Paper Trail Media, Spiegel, and the German channel ZDF.
As part of the international investigation “Cyprus Confidential”, ZDF received confidential documents from Cyprus from which it became known about the receipt of money by Hubert Seipel.
According to the documents, Seipel signed a “sponsorship contract” for the book project, originally called the “Sponsorship Agreement” and paid 600,000 euros.
The author is writing a book about the political environment in the Russian Federation, which should be published in 2019. The sponsor wants to support the development of the project and make this political and historical development accessible to a wider audience through the support of the author, says the contract dated March 2018.
Seipel was also supposed to receive “logistical and organizational support” during his research in Russia.
ZDF writes that, according to the contract, Seipel's “sponsor” is a front company called De Vere Worldwide Corporation, located in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea.
De Vere belongs to the network of companies of Russian oligarchs and major shareholders of TUI Oleksiy Mordashov, who was sanctioned by the European Union in February 2022 due to his closeness to Vladimir Putin.
A handwritten mark on the contract with Seipel also indicates that a similar agreement for a biography of Putin already existed in 2013.
Seipel is the first known Western journalist known to have been paid by Putin's entourage.
Seipel's reaction to the revelation
Seipel interviewed Putin several times for the NDR TV channel financed by taxpayers' money and admitted that he received the “support” of Oleksii Mordashov.
However, according to the journalist, the oligarch, who is currently under sanctions, had no influence on the content of his books.
The biography “Putin. Views of power from the inside” was published in 2015. “Putin's Power. Why Europe Needs Russia” was published in 2021. Both books were published by the well-known Hamburg publishing house “Hoffman & Campe”.
The publisher and NDR said they had no knowledge of the payments and that they would review internal processes, including with a view to possible prosecution.
