Daniel Wolfram
A Russian paper urges FBI chief Patel to bring gifts for Putin’s spies in order to get information.
It did not go unnoticed when the Director of the FBI, Kash Patel, announced that he would go on an official visit to the Kremlin in October.
This came as a huge shock in the political world and the intelligence community. Many of them feared that Patel would be compromised.
And it seems like his visit comes with stipulations from the Russians.
An unexpected trip to Russia
It was reported a month ago by Politico that FBI Director Kash Patel is scheduling a controversial visit to Moscow and St. Petersburg sometime in October.
A trip like this remains exceptionally rare for a sitting FBI chief. In fact, Robert Mueller was the last Bureau director to visit Russia back in 2013.
If the visit happens, Patel will likely meet with the FSB, Russia’s counterpart to the FBI. The potential meeting has already caught the attention of state-sponsored commentators in Moscow.
Incriminating information on Democrats
One of the most popular and state-friendly newspapers, Moskovsky Komsomolets, wrote a long column on what might happen during the visit.
An analyst in the column, Vladimir Vasiliev, suggests that Russia might have some dirt on American Democrats that could be beneficial to Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
“It’s assumed that Russia has some kind of dirt on the Democrats, and we could provide it, in one form or another, to the American side,” Vasiliev wrote.
Salacious information comes with a price
However, this presumed information the Russians are willing to share with the FBI does not come for free.
“At the same time, the Americans might also have something to share, seeing as the Russian side could ask, ‘What do we get in return?’ or inquire, ‘What do you have to say about this or that issue?’” Vasiliev added.
He also speculated that Patel could use the trip to build direct back-channel ties between Moscow and Donald Trump’s administration, asking, “What’s stopping the FBI Director from acting as a mediator or, say, a liaison officer?”
Kash Patel under fire
There are harsh critics of Kash Patel and this shift within the FBI who see this trip to the Kremlin as another step towards softening relations between the US and Russia.
Earlier this month, it was revealed that Kash Patel had forged an unparalleled new intelligence-sharing partnership with both China and Russia, usually two of the best-known adversaries of the US. This has drawn intense scrutiny from all over, but Patel defends this new approach.
“They are both new and dynamic relationships, and we are extremely mindful of their adversarial approach on many matters,” Patel said. “They are not going to stop, but if we can go and have wins for America, then we must engage.”
Blurred lines
This upcoming trip has also brought up questions about how the lines are becoming increasingly blurred for Kash Patel on whether he is an independent steward of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the errand boy for Donald Trump’s personal vendettas.
Patel has a storied history in controversial Russia-related matters all the way back to 2020 before he was considered as the head of the FBI.
Kash Patel spent the years between Trump’s first and second terms sowing doubts about the Russian probe into American election integrity, amplifying Trump’s claims. He even wrote a children’s book mocking Democrats about Russia.
It remains to be seen if Patel’s trip to Russia actually does happen. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated late last month that he had no information regarding the visit.
