Jeffrey Epstein has been trying to communicate with Russian President Vladimir Putin, CNN writes. In a recent article, CNN recalls several documents reflecting the moments when Epstein tried to contact Russian officials.

It was June 2018, about a year after Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, had died unexpectedly. Churkin was someone Epstein met with regularly in New York, according to new documents released by the Justice Department, and Epstein had even offered to help Churkin's son, Maxim, find a job at a wealth management firm in New York. Now Epstein was seeking to speak with another Russian official in question. according to CNN for Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

On June 24, 2018, Epstein sent an email to Norwegian politician Thorbjørn Jagland, then secretary general of the Council of Europe, “I think you could suggest to Putin that Lavrov get information by talking to me, Vitaly Churkin used to do it, but he died. ?!”

Jagland replied that he would meet with Lavrov's assistant next Monday and suggest this.

Epstein on the other hand responded: "Churkin was brilliant. He understood Trump after our conversations. It's not complex. You have to see him to understand something that's so simple."

While Epstein's interest in discovering models from Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe had previously come to light, the recent release of documents related to the financier offers new insight into his efforts to reach out to senior Russian officials, including Putin, whom Epstein tried to meet or speak with on several occasions, CNN writes.

New documents showing more of Epstein's communications with international politicians, including Russian officials, have led to more speculation about the billionaire's motives.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a cabinet meeting this week that his country would launch an investigation into Epstein's possible links to Russian intelligence.

"More and more clues, more and more information and more and more comments in the global press are linked to the suspicion that this unprecedented paedophilia scandal was co-organised by Russian intelligence services," Tusk said.

"I don't need to tell you how serious the increasingly likely possibility that Russian intelligence services co-organised this operation is for Polish state security," Tusk added, underlining: "This can only mean that they also possess compromising material against many leaders who are still active today."

The Kremlin rejected suggestions that Epstein was a spy for Russia.

"The theory that Epstein was controlled by Russian intelligence services can be taken in any way, but not seriously," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Peskov added that journalists "should not waste time" investigating allegations that Epstein had ties to Russian intelligence.

Analysts warned CNN that the documents suggest little more than Epstein's attempt to collaborate with influential figures and position himself as some kind of geopolitical power player.

However, the documents do not indicate whether Epstein ever managed to connect with the Russian leader.

On May 9, 2013, according to the documents, Epstein wrote to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak that Jagland “will be meeting with Putin in Sochi” on May 20 and that Jagland asked if Epstein would be available to meet with the Russian president “to explain how Russia could structure deals in a way that encourages Western investment.”

"I've never met him, I wanted you to know," Epstein added in his email to Barack.

A few days later, Jagland told Epstein on May 14, 2013, that he planned to convey a message to Putin on Epstein's behalf that Epstein could be useful.

On the other hand, through a spokesman, billionaire Bill Gates has publicly described the meeting with Epstein as a "serious error in judgment," but denied any inappropriate behavior.

But in another email to Barack on May 21, 2013, Epstein claimed without providing evidence that he had denied a request from Putin to meet during a Russian economic conference in St. Petersburg.

Epstein said that if Putin wanted to meet with him, he would “have to put aside real time and privacy.” (It is not clear whether Putin ever actually asked to meet with Epstein.)

CNN has reached out to the Kremlin for comment on Epstein's correspondence with Barack.

More than a year later, in July 2014, an email to Epstein suggests he had a meeting scheduled soon with Putin and had invited the LinkedIn founder to join. Joi Ito, then director of the MIT Media Lab, wrote to Epstein: “I couldn’t convince Reid to change his agenda to go meet Putin with you. ;-)”

Ito previously apologized for his association with Epstein and for accepting funding for the MIT Media Lab.

Some of Epstein's communications with prominent Russians occurred at a delicate time in US-Russia relations - after the US intelligence community accused Russia of meddling in the 2016 presidential election, which Donald Trump won.

In June 2018, Jagland sent an email to Epstein that he hoped to stay at his residence in Paris and that he would be coming from Moscow, where he planned to meet with Putin, Lavrov and Dmitry Medvedev, then Russia's prime minister.

"I'm sorry I'm not with you to meet the Russians," Epstein replied.

On Thursday, Norway's investigative unit, Økokrim, announced that it had opened an investigation into Jagland based on information in Epstein's documents.

In a statement, Jagland's lawyer, Anders Brosveet, said his client would cooperate with the investigation and provide the agency with "key findings and relevant documentation." "Based on what we have discovered so far, we remain confident in the outcome," Brosveet said.

Jagland has denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein.

The documents suggest that Epstein had a close relationship with at least one Russian who had ties to the FSB - Russia's main security service and successor to the KGB.

Epstein referred to Sergey Belyakov, who, according to the Russian state news agency TASS, graduated from the FSB Academy in Moscow in 1999, as "my very good friend" in a 2015 email to billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel.

The documents also show that Epstein had offered to introduce him to Belyakov, who at the time headed the St. Petersburg Economic Forum Foundation, responsible for organizing Russia's largest economic conference.