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Julian Assange: hacker. Journalist. Diplomat?
Documents recently released by the Ecuadorian government have laid bare an unorthodox attempt to extract the founder of WikiLeaks from his embassy stamp in London by naming him political advisor of the country's embassy in Moscow .
But the 47-year-old Australian career in international affairs was interrupted when the British authorities vetoed his diplomatic status, effectively preventing him from taking office in Russia.
The files were made public Tuesday night by the Ecuadorian opposition MP, Paola Vintimilla, who opposes the decision of her government to grant Assange nationality. They largely corroborate the Guardian's recent report that Ecuador tried the sophisticated maneuver to bring Assange to Moscow just before Christmas last year.
Russian diplomats have described the Guardian's story as "false news", but government records show that Assange was briefly named "political advisor" at the Ecuadorian Embassy in Moscow and eligible to a monthly salary set at $ 2,000.
Ecuador also asked for a diplomatic identity card, as the documents show, but the plan seems to have collapsed with the British veto.
In a letter dated 21 December 2017 from the UK Foreign Office, British officials "do not consider Mr Julian Assange as an acceptable member of the mission".
An eight-page memo sent to Vintimilla summarizing the episode indicated that Assange's post of counselor had been suppressed a few days later.
WikiLeaks did not return any messages. The British Foreign Office and the Russian Embassy in London declined to comment.
Assange's relations with the Russian authorities have been the subject of close scrutiny since the US election in 2016, when Russian spies reportedly delivered campaign emails to WikiLeaks. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in order to help elect her rival Donald Trump.
Assange denied receiving the files of the Russian government or backing the Trump campaign, despite mounting evidence suggesting that he would have received information directly from the Russian military intelligence agency and coordinated the media strategy with Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr.
Last month, the AP released internal files to WikiLeaks showing that Assange had been trying to settle in Russia as early as 2010.
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Online:
Letter from the Ecuadorian Government to Vintimilla: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5004881-Carta-Canciller.html
Internal documents of the Ecuadorian Government: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5004882-Annexes.html
WikiLeaks PA files: https://www.documentcloud.org/search/projectid:40593-WikiLeaks
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Raphael Satter can be contacted at: http://raphaelsatter.com
