Epstein Secrets

e was put in contact with Anatoly Grigorievich Kucherena, a silver-haired, fifty-two-year-old lawyer who is known to be a personal friend of Putin’s. Kucherena did tasks for Putin’s party in the Russian parlia- ment, or Duma. He had excellent connections in the Russian secu- rity apparatus because he served

had retained for himself and had not shared with the journalists in Hong Kong. Shevardnadze, who makes it a point to drill her interviewees, pressed Kucherena as to whether Snowden still had these NSA files, or “material,” in Russia. The dialogue went as follows (from the transcript supplied to me by Shevar

sian parlia- ment, or Duma. He had excellent connections in the Russian secu- rity apparatus because he served on the oversight committee of the FSB. Kucherena offered to serve as Snowden’s pro bono lawyer. On July 12, Snowden officially retained him as his legal representative in Moscow. In explaining the r

ied, “I want to identify myself as the person behind these disclosures.” On June 9, the video was posted on the Guardian website with the Freedom of the Press Foundation getting an on-screen credit. “My name is Ed Snowden,” the extraordinary disclosure began. He then described how the NSA was watching U.S. citizens. E

Curry, “Ex-intelligence Expert Guilty of Espionage,” Chicago Tribune, June 6, 1986. CHAPTER 26 The Handler 261 “As for [Snowden’s] communication”: Kucherena interview, Shevardnadze, “Snowden Believes He Did Everything Right.” 261 learned from a Russian researcher: Vassili Sonkine, interview with author.

r NSA Director: ‘I Would Lose All Respect for Russia if They Haven't Fully Exploited Snowden,” VentureBeat, May 23, 2014. 166 He was put in contact: Kucherena, interview with Der Spiegel, “Snowden’s Law- yer: ‘Russia Will Not Hand Him Over’” Spiegel Online International, Jane 24, 2013. 166 “Officially, he

nwald,” BuzzFeed, June 26, 2013. 60. by “ordering illegal eavesdropping”: Greenwald, No Place to Hide, 2. On Ron Paul, see ibid., 24. 60 Freedom of the Press Foundation: Michael Calderone, “Freedom of the Press Foundation Launches to Support WikiLeaks,” Huffington Post, Dec. 16, 2012. 60 “The first serious info war”

the journalists with the lists of sources that were particularly relevant to the NSA’s surveillance of Russia. His legal represen- tative in Moscow, Kucherena, confirmed that Snowden had taken secret “material” to Russia and had access to NSA documents that @ he had not given to journalists. Those unreveal

the anti-surveillance movements. This would include core participants in the Tor Project, WikiLeaks, Noisebridge, CryptoParties, the Free- @ dom of the Press Foundation, and the Electronic Frontier Founda- @ tion. (Snowden, for example, had been in touch with members of all these groups in 2012 and 2013.) The SVR wo