Publisher pulls plug on journalist allegedly under Putin ally's patronage
German publisher Hoffmann und Campe of the Ganske Publishing Group on Wednesday decided to halt sales of two non-fiction books about Russian President Vladimir Putin, authored by award-winning journalist Hubert Seipel. This move comes after media reports accused Seipel of receiving over $650,000 in offshore payments from companies linked to an oligarch closely associated with Putin. The publisher said it was not aware of the allegations before reports by German magazine Der Spiegel and public German television ZDF.
Why does this story matter?
The reports were based on the Cyprus Confidential project, an investigation into 3.6 million documents uncovering the companies incorporated in Cyprus—a European tax haven—by the world's leading business houses. The investigation, carried out by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and Munich-based Paper Trail Media, along with 270 journalists from 55 countries, also exposed Indian investors who became Cypriot citizens under the country's Golden Passport scheme to evade taxes.
Seipel became Germany's top Russia commentator since 2014 Crimean crisis
Seipel has claimed to have met Putin "nearly 100 times" and has interviewed him on several occasions. He was dubbed as Germany's "ultimate Putin expert" with unusually good access to the Russian leader after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and received even more screen time after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The books in question, Putin's Power: Why Europe Needs Russia (2021) and Putin: Inner Views of Power (2015) were contracted in 2016 and 2013 respectively.
Seipel allegedly accepted money to whitewash Putin's image
Reports alleged that Seipel took money indirectly from Russian oligarch Alexey Mordashov—one of the many oligarchs sanctioned by the US, UK, and European Union after the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine crisis—to depict Putin in a positive light in these works. Although Seipel denied receiving money from third parties for films or television interviews, he acknowledged receiving support for his book projects. The Guardian reported that Seipel and the director of the Mordashov-linked company signed a "deed of sponsorship" in 2018.
NDR contemplating legal action against Seipel
German public broadcaster NDR, which worked with Seipel on a 2012 Putin documentary, is contemplating legal action against the journalist. NDR reported that Seipel, in his eight-page response to the media, admitted that he had received money from Mordashov via two "sponsorship contracts" in 2013 and 2018 for two book projects but didn't disclose the contracts. The broadcaster called it "a significant conflict of interest that casts doubt on Seipel's journalistic independence."
