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Igor Danchenko
Игорь Юрьевич Данченко
Born
Igor Yurievich Danchenko

(1978-05-05) May 5, 1978 (age 46)[1]
Other namesIggy Danchenko
CitizenshipRussia
Soviet Union (until 1991)
OccupationAnalyst
Known forPrimary sub-source for the Steele dossier
Children1

Igor Yurievich Danchenko (born May 5, 1978) is a Russian citizen and U.S. resident currently residing in Virginia who works as a Eurasia political risk, defense and economics analyst. Together with Clifford Gaddy he analyzed Vladimir Putin's 1996 university dissertation and presented examples of plagiarism.[2][3] In July 2020, Danchenko was revealed to have worked for Christopher Steele's Orbis Business Intelligence as a source for the Steele dossier. In November 2021, he was indicted on charges of lying to the FBI about the identities of his sources[4] but "not about the information [in the dossier] itself".[5] He was acquitted of all charges in October 2022.[6]

Education

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Danchenko grew up in Perm Oblast, Russia.[citation needed] In 1996, Danchenko graduated from Specialized English Language School 7 in Perm, Russia.[citation needed]

Danchenko graduated from the Law Faculty of Perm State University and the Department of Political Science at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, United States.[7] While working at the Brookings Institution, Danchenko earned a master's degree from Georgetown University. From 2006 to 2009 he attended the CERES (Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies) program at the Walsh School of Foreign Service there.[8]

Career

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Early in his career, Danchenko worked at Lukoil subsidiary Permtex in Perm and at UralSubSoetStroy in Iran. Between 1999 and 2005, he was a facilitator for the Open World Russian Leadership Program, US Library of Congress and a leader for senior Russian federal and regional delegations to the US. From 2003 to 2005, Danchenko worked as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Louisville.[citation needed]

Danchenko worked at the Brookings Institution from 2005 to 2010.[9] While there, Danchenko worked closely with Fiona Hill. In 2010, Danchenko, Hill and Erica Downs co-authored a paper called "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? The Realities of a Rising China and Implications for Russia’s Energy Ambitions".[10] Hill introduced Danchenko to Christopher Steele and to U.S.-based public-relations executive Charles Dolan Jr., who would later become one of Danchenko's sources for the Steele dossier.[11]

Since 2010, Danchenko has been an analyst on political risk and business intelligence, managing projects on Russia and Eurasia.[9] Danchenko has been quoted by media outlets on topics ranging from energy politics to defense matters.[7][12]

Putin plagiarism accusations

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Danchenko first made the news alongside his Brookings Institution colleague, Cliff Gaddy, when they obtained a copy of the previously inaccessible 218-page dissertation of Vladimir Putin entitled The Strategic Planning of Regional Resources Under the Formation of Market Relations, which he defended at the St. Petersburg Mining Institute in 1996. [2][3] [13] Danchenko and Gaddy revealed their findings on March 30, 2006, at a Brookings Institution event, where they discussed the dissertation's relevance to Putin's views on governance and the economy.[7] They also presented evidence of extensive plagiarism in the dissertation, including a translation of a 1978 textbook.[14] The Russian dissertation committee disputed their accusations.[15][16]

Early FBI investigation and contact with Russian intelligence officers

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In May 2009, the FBI opened a preliminary investigation into Danchenko after he had reportedly told two associates from the Brookings Institution that he knew of a way they could "make a little extra money” if they were able to "get a job in the government and had access to classified information.” The investigation was upgraded from preliminary to full once further information revealed that Danchenko had prior contacts with Russian intelligence officers in 2005 and 2006.[17] The FBI's investigation into Danchenko was closed in March 2011 after FBI agents mistakenly believed he had fled the country.[18]

Source for Steele dossier

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See also: Steele dossier

Beginning in March 2016, Danchenko was tasked by Christopher Steele to investigate Paul Manafort, as well as Donald Trump, Sergei Ivanov, Carter Page, and Michael Cohen.[19] Some parts of the information contributed by Danchenko became part of the FBI's foreign intelligence surveillance warrants on Carter Page.[9] One of Danchenko's primary sources for information about the alleged collusion between the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign and the Russian government was allegedly Olga Galkina, a Russian public-relations executive and former parliamentary correspondent for RIA Novosti who was also under FISA investigation for being a Russian agent. Olga expected to be given a job in HRC's State Department for the dirt she helped deliver.[20] Galkina, a longtime friend of Danchenko, has denied being one of his sources.[20] Other information was alleged to have come from Charles Dolan Jr.,[21] who was "a longtime participant in Democratic Party politics".[22]

On December 20, 2016, Danchenko was personally identified as Steele's Primary Sub-source by FBI supervisory intelligence analyst, Brian Auten.[23]

In January 2017, shortly after BuzzFeed News published the Steele dossier, Danchenko was contacted by the FBI for an interview. About a week and a half later, in exchange for legal immunity,[24] he agreed to answer questions about his working relationship with Steele, as well as his opinion on the accuracy of the Steele dossier.[25] In March 2017, the FBI signed up Danchenko to be a paid confidential informant; the relationship was terminated by the FBI in October 2020[26] after paying Danchenko over $200,000.[27]

The FBI leadership found that Danchenko was "truthful and cooperative" but rank and file agents did not agree.[28][29] The FBI's Supervisory Intel Analyst said that "it was his impression that the Primary Sub-source may not have been 'completely truthful' and may have been minimizing certain aspects of what he/she told Steele".[30] He also "believed that there were instances where the Primary Sub-source was 'minimizing' certain facts but did not believe that he/she was 'completely fabricating' events". He added that he "did not know whether he could support a 'blanket statement' that the Primary Sub-source had been truthful".[31]

In July 2020, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who chaired the Judiciary Committee, released a 59-page, redacted FBI summary of the FBI's interview with Danchenko, while referring to the entire Russia investigation as "corrupt".[24] In the FBI summary, Danchenko was referred to anonymously as the "Primary Subsource" for the Steele Dossier. Shortly after the release of the summary, Danchenko was identified online as the "Primary Subsource"; he was named in a newly created blog; the blog post was then promoted by a pseudonymous Twitter account created two months earlier, and the identity of Danchenko was amplified by RT, the English-language Kremlin propaganda outlet.[24] Former FBI officials, such as James W. McJunkin, formerly the Bureau's assistant director for counterterrorism, said that the release of information that outed Danchenko would make it more difficult for the FBI to gain the trust of potential sources.[29]

In September 2020, a declassified FBI summary revealed that Danchenko had been identified by the FBI as Christopher Steele's Primary Sub-Source in December 2016.[32][33]

Durham investigation, trial and acquittal

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See also: Durham special counsel investigation

In December 2020, Special Counsel John Durham subpoenaed the Brookings Institution for Danchenko's personnel files.[34] In November 2021, Danchenko was arrested in connection with the John Durham investigation and was charged with five counts of making false statements to the FBI on five different occasions (between March 2017 and November 2017) regarding the sources of material he provided for the Steele dossier.[21][35] This includes Danchenko having allegedly obscured his relationship with Charles Dolan Jr. and having allegedly fabricated contacts with Sergei Millian.[22][36] Danchenko pleaded not guilty to all charges.[4]

Columnist and attorney Andrew C. McCarthy reacted to what he described as the "if not irrational, then exaggerated" reactions by Trump supporters to these reports of arrests. He urged them to be cautious as Durham's indictments "narrowly allege that the defendants lied to the FBI only about the identity or status of people from whom they were getting information, not about the information itself."[5]

Danchenko's trial began on October 11, 2022.[37] U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga deemed one of the five charges had insufficient evidence to proceed. Following the trial, the jury deliberated for one day before acquitting Danchenko of the other four charges on October 18, 2022. The case represented the second indictment in Durham's probe to go to trial and the second not-guilty verdict.[6][38]

Value as FBI source

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During his trial, two FBI officials revealed that Danchenko was "an uncommonly valuable" confidential human source for several years whose role went far beyond the Steele dossier:

Helson testified that Danchenko's reports as a confidential informant were used by the FBI in 25 investigations and 40 intelligence reports during a nearly four-year period from March 2017 to October 2020.... Danchenko, the FBI agent said, was considered 'a model' informant and 'reshaped the way the U.S. even perceives threats.' Helson said that none of his previous informants had ever had as many sub-sources as Danchenko and that others at the FBI have continued to ask in recent months for Danchenko's assistance amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.[39]

References

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  1. ^ "Igor Danchenko". Odnoklassniki. Archived from the original on August 1, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Past Event. 2006 March 30. The Mystery of Vladimir Putin's Dissertation". Brookings Institution. March 30, 2006. Archived from the original on 2023-01-30. Retrieved October 30, 2024. With a Powerpoint presentation: Danchenko, Igor; Gaddy, Clifford G. "стратегичеткое планирование воспроизводства минералъно-сырьевой басы региона в условиях формирования рыночных отношений (Санкт-Петерсбург и Ленинградская область)" [Strategic planning of reproduction of the mineral resource base of the region in the context of the formation of market relations (St. Petersburg and Leningrad region)] (in Russian and English). Archived from the original (pptx) on 2024-06-03. Retrieved 30 October 2024. 16 pages.
  3. ^ a b Danchenko, Igor; Gaddy, Clifford G. ""The Mystery of Vladimir Putin's Dissertation" [Edited versions of presentations by the authors at a Brookings Institution, Foreign Policy Program panel, March 30, 2006]" (PDF). The Brookings Institution. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-05-15. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  4. ^ a b Weiner, Rachel (November 10, 2021). "Igor Danchenko pleads not guilty to lying to FBI about Steele dossier". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  5. ^ a b McCarthy, Andrew C. (December 11, 2021). "John Durham Probe: Michael Sussmann Case Collapsing?". National Review. Retrieved December 13, 2021. ...the exuberance over Durham's indictments of Sussmann and Danchenko, particularly among Trump supporters, was, if not irrational, then exaggerated...Durham may well be convinced that the Trump–Russia narrative was a hoax and that the Alfa Bank angle was similarly bogus,... [but] His indictments, however, make no such claim. Instead, they narrowly allege that the defendants lied to the FBI only about the identity or status of people from whom they were getting information, not about the information itself. It is therefore irrelevant to Durham's prosecutions whether the Trump–Russia narrative was true or false. (italics original)
  6. ^ a b Rizzo, Salvador (October 18, 2022). "Steele dossier source acquitted, in loss for special counsel Durham". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c "Игорь Данченко: "Основные тенденции связаны с изменением роли государства в экономике" | TLT.ru - Новости Тольятти". 2020-07-20. Archived from the original on 2020-07-20. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
  8. ^ "Senior Analyst /Consultant / Research / Investment / Risks". Archived from the original on June 22, 2020. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  9. ^ a b c Cohen, Zachary; Perez, Evan; Polantz, Katelyn (November 4, 2021). "Authorities arrest analyst who was source for Steele dossier". CNN. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  10. ^ Danchenko, Igor; Downs, Erica S.; Hill, Fiona (August 31, 2010). "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? The Realities of a Rising China and Implications for Russia's Energy Ambitions". Brookings Institution. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  11. ^ Stanley-Becker, Isaac (November 6, 2021). "A spin doctor with ties to Russia allegedly fed the Steele dossier before fighting to discredit it". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  12. ^ Loiko, Sergei L.; Kraul, Chris (October 25, 2008). "Russia angry at sanctions on arms firm". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  13. ^ "Putin's dissertation and the revenge of RuNet". openDemocracy.
  14. ^ Strauss, Valerie (March 18, 2004). "Russia's plagiarism problem: Even Putin has done it!". Archived from the original on July 19, 2020. Retrieved July 25, 2020. In 2005, two researchers at the Brookings Institution in Washington got a copy of the thesis, titled "Strategic Planning of the Reproduction of the Mineral Resource Base of a Region under Conditions of the Formation of Market Relations," and presented their findings in 2006. Researchers Clifford Gaddy and Igor Danchenko found that the thesis had been heavily "borrowed" from a 1978 textbook, "Strategic Planning and Public Policy," written by University of Pittsburgh Professors David I. Cleland and William R. King.
  15. ^ Maxim Shishkin; Dmitry Butrin; Mikhail Shevchuk. "The President as Candidate". Kommersant. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
  16. ^ "Researchers peg Putin as plagiarist over thesis". The Washington Times. 24 March 2006. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  17. ^ Herridge, Catherine (September 24, 2020). "Senate Judiciary chair Lindsey Graham releases new details about source of Steele dossier". CBS News. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  18. ^ Barrett, Devlin; Hsu, Spencer; Zapotosky, Matt (September 25, 2020). "Justice Dept. disclosures cast fresh doubt on Trump-Russia investigation". Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2020. In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), Attorney General William P. Barr said the individual whose information was used to assemble much of a dossier of allegations against the Trump campaign had been the subject of a national security investigation between 2009 and 2011, because FBI agents suspected he might be working for Russia.
  19. ^ "Interview of Igor Danchenko" (PDF). p. 47. Retrieved July 25, 2020. [Danchenko] described the US election-related tasking came in three waves: (1) the initial tasking about Paul Manafort; (2) the tasking about any compromising materials on Donald Trump; (3) tasking about Sergey Ivanov's involvement in the US election; and (4) later on, in the fall of 2016, 4-5 names to ask about (which [Danchenko] talks about earlier, including Carter Page and Michael Cohen].
  20. ^ a b Cullison, Alan; Gauthier-Villars, David (October 28, 2020). "Russian in Cyprus Was Behind Key Parts of Discredited Dossier on Trump". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved October 31, 2020. In the nearly four years since they were published, many of the unverified allegations about President Trump compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele have been widely discredited, including by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddlings in the 2016 U.S. election. Yet the source of some of the most critical allegations in that dossier and how they reached Mr. Steele have remained a mystery. A Wall Street Journal investigation provides an answer: a 40-year-old Russian public-relations executive named Olga Galkina fed notes to a friend and former schoolmate who worked for Mr. Steele.
  21. ^ a b Goldman, Adam; Savage, Charlie (November 4, 2021). "Authorities Arrest Analyst Who Contributed to Steele Dossier". The New York Times. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  22. ^ a b Barrett, Devlin; Jackman, Tom (November 4, 2021). "Igor Danchenko arrested, charged with lying to FBI about information in Steele dossier". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  23. ^ "USA v Danchenko" (PDF). p. 118. Retrieved April 20, 2023. ... did somebody just tell you that [Danchenko was Steele's Primary Sub-source]? No, I was able to personally identify [him]... If I recall correctly, we had a preliminary identification [of Mr. Danchenko] on the 20th of December, 2016.
  24. ^ a b c Goldman, Adam; Savage, Charlie (July 24, 2020). "The F.B.I. Pledged to Keep a Source Anonymous. Trump Allies Aided His Unmasking". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2020. The report blacked out Mr. Danchenko's name and other identifying information. But within two days, a post on a newly created blog entitled 'I Found the Primary Subsource' identified him, citing clues left visible in the F.B.I. document.
  25. ^ Wemple, Erik (December 19, 2019). "Opinion:'Yeah, I briefly chased the pee tape' — New York Times reporter talks Steele dossier, Horowitz report and more". Retrieved July 25, 2020. I figured out the full extent of this Jan. 13, 2017*, meeting. It was awful. The dossier was garbage, and then I learned the court hadn't been told.
  26. ^ "USA vs Danchenko – Government's Motions" (PDF). September 2, 2022. p. 3. Retrieved September 13, 2022. In March 2017, the FBI signed the defendant up as a paid confidential human source of the FBI. The FBI terminated its source relationship with the defendant in October 2020.
  27. ^ Gibson, Jake; Singman, Brooke (October 13, 2022). "FBI paid Igor Danchenko more than $200,000 to serve as confidential human source". Fox News. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  28. ^ Office of the Inspector General U.S. Department of Justice (December 9, 2019). "Review of Four FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane Investigation" (PDF). justice.gov. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  29. ^ a b Goldman, Adam; Savage, Charlie (July 25, 2020). "The F.B.I. Pledged to Keep a Source Anonymous. Trump Allies Aided His Unmasking". The New York Times. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  30. ^ Office of the Inspector General U.S. Department of Justice (December 9, 2019). "Review of Four FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane Investigation" (PDF). justice.gov. Retrieved December 9, 2019. The Supervisory Intel Analyst did not recall anyone asking him whether he thought the Primary Sub-source was "truthful and cooperative," as noted in the renewal applications. 389 He told us it was his impression that the Primary Sub-source may not have been "completely truthful" and may have been minimizing certain aspects of what he/she told Steele. However, the Supervisory Intel Analyst told the OIG that, on the whole, he did not see any reason to doubt the information the Primary Sub-source provided about who he/she received his/her information from, which was the Supervisory Intel Analyst's focus. (p. 245)
  31. ^ Office of the Inspector General U.S. Department of Justice (December 9, 2019). "Review of Four FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane Investigation" (PDF). justice.gov. Retrieved December 9, 2019. The Supervisory Intel Analyst told the OIG that he found the Primary Sub-source's explanations about his/her contacts with this sub-source "peculiar" and that the Primary Sub-source could have been minimizing his/her relationship with the sub-source. The Supervisory Intel Analyst agreed that press reports discussing the sub-source's alleged contacts with the Trump campaign may have motivated the Primary Sub-source to minimize the extent of his/her relationship with the sub-source. We asked the Supervisory Intel Analyst whether he thought the Primary Sub-source had been truthful during his/her interview with the FBI. He said that he believed that there were instances where the Primary Sub-source was "minimizing" certain facts but did not believe that he/she was "completely fabricating" events. The Supervisory Intel Analyst stated that he did not know whether he could support a "blanket statement" that the Primary Sub-source had been truthful. (p. 192)
  32. ^ "Chairman Graham Releases Newly Declassified Summary Indicating FBI Knew Steele Dossier Source Was Likely a Russian Agent, Had Been Under U.S. Counterintelligence Investigation". September 24, 2020.
  33. ^ "AG Letter to Chairman Graham" (PDF). p. 3. Retrieved October 11, 2022. In December 2016, the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation identified the employee as Christopher Steele's Primary Subsource.
  34. ^ Charlie, Savage; Goldman, Adam (April 12, 2021). "Subpoenaing the Brookings Institution, Durham Focuses on Trump-Russia Dossier". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 12, 2021. In February, several weeks before the Senate confirmed Mr. Garland, Mr. Durham obtained old personnel files and other documents related to Mr. Danchenko from the Brookings Institution, a prominent Washington think tank, using a subpoena. [...] Michael Cavadel, the general counsel of Brookings, confirmed the subpoena for records and other materials about Mr. Danchenko, saying that it was received on Dec. 31 and that the think tank had taken until February to gather the files and turn them over to Mr. Durham's team in part because its office is closed during the pandemic.
  35. ^ "Danchenko indictment". Case 1:21-cr-00245-AJT Document 1 Filed 11/03/21 Page 1 of 39 PageID# 1
  36. ^ Gerstein, Josh; Cheney, Kyle; Woodruff Swan, Betsy (November 4, 2021). "Steele dossier source arrested in Durham probe". Politico. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  37. ^ "USA vs Danchenko – Court Order" (PDF). January 12, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022. With respect to the jury trial in this case scheduled to begin on October 11, 2022
  38. ^ Savage, Charlie; Qiu, Linda (October 18, 2022). "Acquittal of Russia Analyst Deals Final Blow to Trump-Era Prosecutor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
  39. ^ Rizzo, Salvador (October 14, 2022). "Durham says Steele dossier source lied. But the FBI long valued him". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
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