Rosneft, Revisited: Did Trump Do a Deal in Russia?

In the wake of Michael Cohen’s surprise plea deal, even Donald Trump himself was forced to concede that yes, despite all the indignant protests to the contrary, he and his associates were indeed in communication with the Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump Tower Moscow didn’t make it past the planning stages, but the President may have consummated another secret deal in Russia, worth considerably more money.

That’s what it says in the so-called Steele dossier, the series of intelligence reports produced by former MI6 super-spy Christopher Steele. Given the breathtaking falsehoods told by Trump and his associates on all things Russia for the last two years, as well as the fact that these same egregious liars invested considerable effort attempting to discredit Steele and his work, the dossier now appears more likely than not to be accurate. Certainly it demands closer re-examination.

In the intelligence report dated 18 October, 2016, Steele observes that Igor Sechin, CEO of the Russian oil company Rosneft, “was so keen to lift personal and corporate western sanctions imposed on the company, that he offered [Carter] PAGE/TRUMP’s associates the brokerage of up to a 19 per cent (privatized) stake in Rosneft in return.” Wherefore Sechin’s keenness? Well, Rosneft is one of the world’s largest publicly traded oil…