WikiLeaks' Russian asset and accused rapist Julian Assange attempted to secure a visa to travel to Russia as his legal problems mounted. On November 30, 2010, Assange was being pursued by Swedish authorities under an Interpol warrant accusing him of the molestation of one woman and the rape of a second woman. His organization -- now recognized as an arm of Russian intelligence -- had just released 250,000 hacked U.S. documents concerning drone attacks in Yemen, alleged U.S. corrupt activities in the Arab world, and other subjects. Sensing possible extradition to Sweden on the sex charged, or the U.S. to face espionage charges, he wrote to the Russian embassy in London seeking a visa, but it wasn't granted, and Assange turned himself in to British authorities on December 7, 2010.
The disclosure of Assange's activities are part of a large trove of WikiLeaks documents obtained by the Associated Press from former WikiLeaks associates and others. An associate of Assange's, Holocaust denier Israel Shamir, was the go-between attempting to get the visa, and was interviewed in 2011 by a Russian media outlet:
"Shamir said he’d personally brokered a Russian visa for Assange, but that it had come too late to rescue him from the sex crimes investigation.After his supporters raised bail for him, he stiffed them, jumped bail and scurried to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he remains, for now at least.
Russia 'would be one of those places where he and his organization would be comfortable operating,' Shamir explained. Asked if Assange had friends in the Kremlin, Shamir smiled and said: 'Let’s hope that’s the case.'" (our emphasis)
As the AP story observes regarding the trove of information in their possession:
"The files provide both an intimate look at the radical transparency organization and an early hint of Assange’s budding relationship with Moscow.Ecuador, if you're listening, give Assange the boot from your embassy.
The ex-hacker’s links to the Kremlin would become increasingly salient before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, when the FBI says Russia’s military intelligence agency directly supplied WikiLeaks with stolen emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman and other Democratic figures."
