Igor Danchenko has found himself in the cross-hairs of Donald Trump and his supporters after providing content for the Steele dossier (Picture: Ella Millward, Metro/Getty)
Vladimir Putin is ‘uniquely positioned’ to exploit a Donald Trump win in the US presidential race, according to the main contributor to the infamous Russia dossier.
Igor Danchenko said that the document and other investigations making claims about Trump’s relationship with the Kremlin remain relevant as Americans go to the polls.
He also told Metro how he has overcome ‘depression and overall disillusionment’ after being acquitted on all charges of lying to the FBI at his trial two years ago.
Mr Danchenko, a Russian emigre now living in Arlington, Virginia, spoke as Trump and Kamala Harris go to the wire in the closely contested race for the seat in the White House.
Assessing the nominees, the Russia-Eurasia analyst told Metro that ‘unprincipled’ Trump may see Ukraine, which is heavily dependent on US arms, as not worth saving.
‘Trump appears willing to use Ukraine as a bargaining chip in relations with Russia, but he may also be ready to give up Ukraine altogether, judging by his social media posts and rhetoric during the campaign,’ he said.
‘Trump has no principles, he is unpredictable and unstable. He often puts his interests and PR above the interests of the country and its citizens.
‘Harris, on the opposite, is more soft-handed, careful, consistent and sees a bigger picture with American national and public interest at its centre.’
Mr Danchenko, 46, was thrust into the spotlight after it emerged that he had been the primary subsource for the so-called Steele dossier, which made a series of unverified claims, including that Russia has ‘kompromat’ of a sexual nature on Trump.
Donald Trump holds a campaign rally at the Van Andel Arena in Michigan as he bids for re-election (Picture: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Kamala Harris waves as she walks off the stage during a rally in Pennsylvania (Picture: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
The collection of memos, compiled by the former British spy Christopher Steele, was published by Buzzfeed 10 days before Trump took office in January 2017.
Mr Danchenko then became a confidential FBI informant before his identity was made public without his consent in a chain of events which led to him being put on trial for making false statements to the agency.
It emerged that Steele’s private investigation firm, Orbis, had been subcontracted by Washington DC-based research company Fusion GPS, which in turn was paid by Hilary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee to look into Trump.
Mr Danchenko has stood by the vast majority of the material in the dossier with the caveats that he had no idea the information he gathered would be compiled into one document and released into the public realm without any nuance.
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Source:: Metro
