Russian military intelligence conspired to kidnap Americans in Syria or Iraq before allowing a quick resolution as a way to improve Donald Trump’s standing ahead of the 2020 election, according to the former MI6 spy who authored the infamous 2016 dossier on the then- Republican candidate.
Christopher Steele makes this explosive claim in a memoir published Tuesday.
In it, he does not hide his opposition to Trump, who, according to him, would herald a “new world disorder” if he wins the elections in November.
And he maintains his original dossier, filled with salacious accusations that Russia could have used to blackmail Trump, saying it was the product of credible sources.
In ‘Unredacted: Russia, Trump, and the Fight for Democracy’, he describes how he continued his work during the 2020 election.
Former MI6 spy Christopher Steele makes an explosive claim in his memoirs published on Tuesday. It says Russia conspired to engineer an “October Surprise” by kidnapping Americans before the 2020 election to help President Donald Trump win the election.
His most striking claim is that Russia investigated ways to manufacture an “October surprise” to help Trump.
A senior Russian intelligence officer explained the plan to one of Steele’s “collectors.”
‘For at least the past week and no more than the last two weeks, a small, highly secret group, separate from all other tasks, with a single mission, has been meeting at (GRU) headquarters in Moscow; to instigate the kidnapping or hostage-taking of American citizens in Iraq or Syria…’ reads an excerpt from a report compiled by Steele’s private investigative team, Orbis Business Intelligence.’
‘The goal of this plot is to create a diversionary event just before the US election and: allow Trump to quickly and successfully resolve the hostage situation and use it to his political advantage, or (the Kremlin’s preferred method); Resolve the situation in a joint operation between the Russian military forces and the US military.’
It represented a “radical and highly risky” effort to snatch victory from Joe Biden.
“The goal is to fake a situation and then ‘solve’ it with the effect of making Russia appear friendly to the United States, and Trump’s relationship with Putin has paid off,” the report concludes.
The plan had a deadline of October 20, two weeks before the elections.
“And it would give Trump and Putin the opportunity to react strongly and effectively for two or three days, leaving as little time as possible for any effective action by the media, or even for the media to digest what is really happening. “he added. adds the report.
The plot involved the kidnapping of American citizens in Syria or Iraq. A member of the Russian military police near the town of Darbasiyah, in Hasakah province, northeastern Syria.
Steele writes that Russia intended to help Trump win 2020 election
‘Unwritten: Russia, Trump, and the Fight for Democracy’ by Christopher Steele is published by Mariner Books on Tuesday.
Steele writes that it should serve as a diminution of “twisted thinking in Moscow.”
‘As we approach the 2024 elections, and with all restrictions removed from Putin, we must be alert to the potential for operations that could be even more aggressive, ambitious and extravagant than this one. “Putin may feel that he has nothing to lose and everything to gain,” he writes.
Steele’s claims are likely to be met with skepticism.
The release of his dossier after the 2016 election sparked a political storm just before Trump’s inauguration.
It contained a series of unverified claims or “raw intelligence” that Trump’s presidential campaign was in collusion with Russia and that the candidate was vulnerable to blackmail, giving Moscow leverage over a future president.
It included the claim that Trump had cavorted with prostitutes at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
However, key elements of the dossier were later discredited.
And the Trump campaign warns readers not to believe any new allegations.
Steele writes that Russian President Vladimir Putin knew that “there is no one in the world more powerful than a second-term American president.”
“Any new information provided by this foreign agent who sold the discredited Steele dossier must be completely discarded, and any media outlet considering anything he has to say is just a continuation of election interference aimed at meddling in the campaign,” he said. Trump campaign spokesman Steven. Cheung before publication.
Steele defends his original research
“I still believe the original information was obtained from credible sources,” he writes in the book.
His book describes the impact of becoming the Republicans’ public enemy number one. However, he also explains how his work continued in 2020, funded by individuals.
By then, Putin believed that a re-elected Trump would be more powerful than ever, according to Steele.
“Putin knew that if re-elected, Trump would be much freer to act in favor of Russia than during his first presidential term,” he wrote in a report three months before the election.
In his next report he quoted a senior Kremlin official as saying that if Trump won, Russia hoped to get his help in talks with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky over the status of the Russian-occupied areas of Crimea and Donbass.
Putin also believed, he writes, that Trump would likely lift sanctions over Russian actions in Ukraine.
Throughout his book, he makes no secret of his feelings toward Trump and a second term.
“If Putin manages to help Trump get re-elected, I am convinced that the world political and economic order will completely change,” he writes.
‘We will have entered a new historical era of strategic chaos, a “new world disorder.”
It would herald a Russian victory in Ukraine, a retreat from climate change commitments and an “unnecessary” confrontation with China.