Mandelson was ‘in Russian intelligence crosshairs for decades’ | Politics | News

The Express understands Lord Mandelson spent decades in the crosshairs of Russian state intelligence, with security services allegedly fully aware of his status long before Sir Keir Starmer handed him Britain’s most valuable diplomatic post.

Sources said Moscow’s interest in Mandelson intensified after he took on the role of European Trade Commissioner in 2004 and was a known source of concern in the intelligence community for years before his appointment to Washington.

Despite this, and the due diligence process that revealed his connections to both Russia and China, he was still in this role; This role brings the holder into daily proximity with the most powerful administration in the world.

Under Epstein’s microscope

Russian intelligence services are also understood to be closely monitoring Mandelson’s relationship with American financier and child serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in a New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on smuggling charges.

This relationship ultimately proved fatal for the embassy. It was revealed that Mandelson lobbied for Epstein’s early release after his previous conviction for procuring a minor for sexual abuse and forced Epstein to leave his post in Washington.

Western security officials concluded that although Epstein was almost certainly not a Russian agent, he served as a magnet for foreign intelligence activity. Mandelson’s social circle, which included prominent figures, would naturally attract the constant attention of hostile state actors.

Missiles and Putin ally

Sir Keir received a due diligence report during the appointment process that raised serious questions about Mandelson’s corporate background, The Telegraph reported. The document allegedly highlights his time as a non-executive board member at Sistema, a Russian conglomerate with a stake in defense firm RTI, a company whose technology directly feeds Russia’s land-based missile early warning capability. The report stated that the head of Sistema was a close associate of Vladimir Putin.

The report also said that Mandelson continued to sit on the board of Sistema until June 2017 (years after Putin seized Crimea) and that his lobbying business, Global Counsel, developed ties with interests in both Russia and China.

Mandelson’s long-standing connection to Oleg Deripaska, the oligarch once ranked as Russia’s richest person, has been a matter of public record since at least 2008, when Mandelson served as EU trade commissioner in Brussels. The enduring nature of this relationship suggests that both the Blair and Brown governments were aware of the Russian dimension of their network long before the current controversy broke out.

Rusnano emails

Documents revealed in the Epstein files paint another picture of Global Counsel’s entanglements in Russia. They show that the firm is in active talks with Rusnano, a technology investment vehicle wholly owned by the Kremlin.

A source with knowledge of these deals told The Guardian that the discussions took place before Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and at a time when Britain’s trade relations with Russia were actively encouraged by the government.

Sir Keir will appear before MPs on Monday amid growing demands for answers as the investigation scandal refuses to die down. Mandelson has repeatedly insisted that neither he nor those around him were aware that Mandelson had failed his security assessment before taking office.