patrick.net

By: Hans-Jörg Vehlewald
November 14, 2023 - 7:41 p.m

He was considered a top “Putin explainer” on ARD who “spent more time with the Kremlin boss than any other Western journalist.” Now it turns out: The NDR author and Putin friend Hubert Seipel (73) received the equivalent of 600,000 euros from the “sponsorship” fund of the Russian oligarch Alexei Mordaschov – a close confidant of Putin.

According to research by ZDF and SPIEGEL, Seipel signed a sponsorship contract with Mordashov's Caribbean mailbox company “De Vere Worldwide Corporation” in March 2018: Seipel's planned book (“Putin's Power. Why Europe Needs Russia”, published in 2021) was to be supported with the sum (“support the development of the project”).

A note on the contract also indicates, writes ZDF, “that Seipel had already signed a similar contract in 2013” – which the ARD man does not deny.

Seipel admitted the payments, reports ZDF. But he insists that the Kremlin money had no influence on his ARD reports or books.

REALLY NOT?

Seipel's ARD Putin portrait (2012) and an exclusive interview with the Kremlin leader (2014) brought the author a lot of ridicule because Seipel doesn't ask any critical questions. The interview was even broadcast on Russian state TV. His 2012 book (“Putin's Power. Why Europe Needs Russia”) was panned by the “Süddeutsche” with the subtitle: “Hubert Seipel is making himself an advocate for Russia's president - for example by omitting facts.”

Seipel loyal to Moscow also at “Maischberger”

But Seipel remained true to himself, Putin and the ARD: At the end of January 2022, he declared on “Maischberger” that NATO had “surrounded” Putin. Fear of war is misguided: “We live in hysteria” and Putin will not risk war.

And even on the eve of the Ukraine invasion (February 24, 2022), Seipel – also with “Maischberger” – was singing his loyalties to Moscow: the Russian deployment on the Ukrainian border was just “a mixture of a diplomatic offensive and military muscle flexing”.

The NDR responsible for Seipel promised to clarify the allegations. When it comes to a “payment to influence an author,” the NDR sees itself and its audience “deceived.” In the evening, the broadcaster announced that it saw “a significant conflict of interest that casts doubt on Seipel’s journalistic independence.”

NDR director Joachim Knuth announced that he would consider legal action against the journalist.