Leak reveals Julian Assange plan was to escape Britain and flee to Russia

A new leak of internal WikiLeaks files reveals that Julian Assange attempted to flee Britain for Russia as authorities closed in on him.

The founder of site - which revealed secret American documents to the world - wrote to the Russian consulate in London in 2010 in the hopes of gaining a visa to the country.

"I, Julian Assange, hereby grant full authority to my friend, Israel Shamir, to both drop off and collect my passport, in order to get a visa," said the letter, which has been obtained and published by the Associated Press.

The letter was leaked to the news agency along with WikiLeaks emails, chat logs, financial records, secretly recorded footage and other documents.

On 30 November 2010, the same day as the letter is dated, Interpol issued a Red Notice seeking Assange's arrest - essentially preventing any relocation to Russia.

AP showed the documents to former WikiLeaks associates and verified non-public details such as bank accounts, telephone numbers or airline tickets to check the authenticity of the files.

Assange's relationship with Russia is of interest to America, with the FBI claiming Russia's military intelligence agency directly gave WikiLeaks stolen emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman and other Democratic figures ahead of the 2016 US presidential election.

(read more) https://news.sky.com/story/leak-reveals-julian-assange-plan-to-escape-britain-and-flee-to-russia-11500550