Influential German broadcaster and author Hubert Seipel, who interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin and wrote two books about him, received 600,000 euros ($646,000) from companies associated with oligarch Aleksei Mordashov, who is close to Putin and is on the Western sanctions list, a joint journalistic investigation has found.
Seipel is known in Germany for an exclusive 2014 interview with Putin and has also produced a documentary about him.
The investigation, carried out by German broadcaster ZDF, Der Spiegel magazine, and the German investigative outlet Paper Trailer Media, said Seipel, an award-winning journalist, received the money in instalments via a Cyprus-based company linked to Mordashov for two books described by many as favorable portraits of Putin.
According to confidential files from Cyprus-based financial services firms obtained by the German journalists, in 2018 Seipel, renowned in Germany as one of the top independent experts on Russia, signed a 600,000-euro sponsorship agreement to write and promote a book about the "political climate in Russia" -- an unusually high fee in Germany's publishing business.
The book was published in 2021 under the title Putin’s Power: Why Europe Needs Russia, following a previous Putin biography published in 2015 and titled Putin: Inner Views Of Power.
In the documents obtained by the investigation, there is a handwritten note indicating that Seipel may have already received money in 2013 for preparing Putin's biography.
Seipel, who has said that he met Putin "nearly 100 times" and was one of the very few Western journalists to have direct access to the Russian leader, did not warn his readers or the publisher about a possible conflict of interest.
Seipel confirmed to ZDF that he had received "financial support through Mordashov," but claimed that this "did not influence the content of his books in any way," pointing to a contractual clause stating that the author "has no obligation to the sponsor in relation to the book project."
The NDR television company said in response to a request from the investigative team that it did not know about Seipel's Russian financing and said it was considering filing a lawsuit against him.
ARD and the Russian side, including the Kremlin's press service, declined to comment.
Mordashov, a steel and banking magnate who was placed under U.S, EU, and British sanctions last year for his close ties to the Kremlin, owns a majority stake in the German travel company TUI.
He is one of Russia's richest people, with a net worth estimated by Forbes at nearly $21 billion.
After being included in the sanctions list, Mordashov's representatives claimed that he had withdrawn his shares in Rossia Bank, owned by close Putin associate Yury Kovalchuk.
However, in September, the European Court found that the alleged transfer of shares was not supported by documents.