Former Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland has been linked to Russia, according to newly released documents from the Epstein files, The Independent reports. These files relate to American pedophile and abuser Jeffrey Epstein, who trafficked girls and women for some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential figures for years.
The released email correspondence shows that Epstein spent years trying to arrange a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and one possible channel to reach the Russian president was through Jagland.
During Jagland’s leadership, the Council of Europe effectively ignored Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and moved toward a policy of “normalizing” relations with the aggressor state.
For eight years, Epstein obsessively sought a way to meet Putin through this EU channel
The Russian president’s name appears 1,055 times in the correspondence. According to the US Department of Justice files, Jeffrey Epstein actively sought a personal meeting with Putin from 2010 to 2018.
Epstein tried to obtain a Russian visa, discussed economic projects and investments, and explicitly asked whether he should contact his "friends of Putin." In 2011, he wrote to Emirati businessman Ahmed bin Sulayem that Putin may come to the US, so Sochi, as a meeting place, was unlikely.
Europe turned a blind eye to Russia’s aggression under Jagland
Despite the occupation of Crimea, the war in Donbas, and severe human rights violations on the peninsula, including repression of Crimean Tatars, disappearance of activists, and militarization, Jagland consistently advocated for the return of the Russian delegation to PACE.
From 2016 onward, he increased pressure within the Council of Europe to lift sanctions on Russia, even though it was Russia that had violated the organization’s founding principles.
These actions became part of a broader trend that made Europe dependent on Russian oil and gas, while Crimea was turned into a Kremlin military base in the Black Sea.
1,055 mentions of Putin: what the US DOJ files reveal
Ukrainian deputy Volodymyr Ariev, who headed the Ukrainian delegation in PACE at that time, openly opposed Russia’s return and called Jagland a conduit of Russian influence. According to Ariev, fighting the FSB network within the Council of Europe under Jagland cost him his health.
“I hope the Council of Europe will establish a separate body to conduct a detailed investigation into the network of Russian intelligence services that operated in PACE for years,” Ariev said after the documents were published.
Against the backdrop of the Crimea occupation and the war against Ukraine, these facts demonstrate once again that Russia has long built networks of influence in Europe, using international institutions as instruments to legitimize its aggression.
