Leaked Kremlin documents suggest Vladimir Putin personally authorised a secret spy agency operation to support Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election, according to what are assessed to be genuine papers seen by the Guardian. The key meeting took place on 22 January 2016, with Putin, his spy chiefs and senior ministers present.
The documents indicate Russia’s three spy agencies were ordered to find practical ways to support Trump, in a decree appearing to bear Putin’s signature. A report prepared by Putin’s expert department recommended Moscow use “all possible force” to ensure a Trump victory, describing him as the “most promising candidate” and an “impulsive, mentally unstable and unbalanced individual who suffers from an inferiority complex”.
Western intelligence agencies are understood to have been aware of the documents for some months and to have examined them. Independent experts who saw the papers said they appear to be genuine, with incidental details accurate and the overall thrust consistent with Kremlin security thinking.
The Kremlin dismissed the claims, with Putin’s spokesman Dmitri Peskov saying the idea that Russian leaders met and agreed to support Trump was “a great pulp fiction”. The documents also suggest the Kremlin possesses kompromat on Trump collected during his earlier visits to Russia.
