German journalist Hubert Seibel received hundreds of thousands of euros from Russia

obe./suk. German journalist Hubert Seibel is said to have received money from Russia. Spiegel and ZDF reported on Tuesday evening. The amount is said to be around €600,000, paid as part of a so-called sponsorship contract. Sibel is considered an expert on Russian affairs. According to his own statements, he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin “nearly 100 times,” Spiegel wrote.

According to the research, “Spiegel” received data from a financial services provider in Cyprus proving that Cybil has been receiving money from Russia for years. The magazine wrote that the data shared with him was evaluated in cooperation with the International Consortium for Investigative Journalism (ICIJ).

According to Spiegel, documents show that Sibel signed a sponsorship contract in 2018 and received a total amount of 600,000 euros from Russia in three payments. The money was intended to serve as royalties for a book on the political scene in Russia. The book was published in 2021 under the title “Putin’s Power.” Why Europe needs Russia. Seipel is also said to have received money for another book.

According to the research, Sibel received money from a shell company based in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov is said to be behind this company.

At her request, Sibel admitted to “supporting” Mordashov. Sippel was quoted as saying that the oligarch, who has now been sanctioned, had no influence on the content of his books. The contract states that the author has “no obligations to the sponsor in connection with the project (whether in relation to the content of the book, its authorship, or otherwise) or its completion.”

In 2012, Seipel’s film “I, Putin – Portrait” was broadcast on the ARD channel, which has been repeated 51 times to date and sold in eleven countries. He was the first Western journalist to conduct several lengthy interviews with Putin. His television documentary about Russia’s state-owned company Gazprom was released in 2009. It was then that Seibel said he met Putin for the first time.

In 2011, Sipple was again the first Western television journalist to interview American whistleblower Edward Snowden, who fled to Moscow.

Seibel was often a guest on German talk shows and explained his point of view on Russia there. He has won numerous awards for his documentaries and interviews, including the German Television Award and the Swiss Media Award.