Considering/reconsidering a potential smoking gun: Rykov's Carter Page Facebook post.
Those who have known me on DU for at least the past year have known I have been focused on several particular individuals in the Trussia scandal. The most intriguing of these people arguably is Konstantin Rykov, a former Russian parliamentarian for Putin's United Russia who has also been described as one of the Kremlin's chief online propogandists.
A year ago, I stumbled upon a Facebook post from Rykov dated November 12, 2016, several days after the US election, where Rykov appeared to offer a stunning confession about running a four-year campaign from Russia--utilizing Cambridge Analytica data and Wikileaks--to influence US voters to elect Donald Trump. The post even includes the wild claim that Rykov personally interacted with Donald Trump on Twitter on Election Night 2012. (And while that can't be verified yet, he was indeed discussing Donald Trump on Twitter on Election Night 2012).
Reading further into Rykov's background--which includes apparent concerted attempts to influence other foreign elections, such as in France and Scotland--and his heavy advocacy for Trump (even throwing parties in Moscow for him on election night and inauguration day) I was immediately captivated and began to scour his Facebook and Twitter pages for other notable admissions on his part. Because Rykov wrote exclusively in Russian, I utilized the Google Translate add-on feature on my Chrome Browser to efficiently translate his claims.
Around March of this year, I found what looked to be yet another astonishing claim on Rykov's part. I found a Facebook post of his from July 2016--meaning it was during the campaign--discussing a speech that Carter Page, then-foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign, was giving at that very time in Moscow. Here's the original Facebook post:
https://www.facebook.com/konstantin.rykov/posts/10209422386386902
Here's my post on DU referencing my discovery:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210385959
Rykov's original post, as I read via online translation, immediately set off red flags:
It is clear that the lecture at the NES was a cover and Carter Page came to Moscow for other reasons. The impression is still very positive. I can imagine how worried old Michael McFaul is .
This was important because Page had insisted he gave the speech in Moscow in an individual capacity and not as a representative of the Trump campaign. This clearly disputes that claim. Also notable is the fact that he actually tags in former US Ambassador Michael McFaul into the post, meaning McFaul was aware of his statements (and in fact acknowledges it in the comments.) Rykov had an ongoing online feud with McFaul--who he blamed for harsh policies against Russia from the US--and would frequently use his posts as attempts to antagonize or show off in front of McFaul.
But as amazing of a claim as that was on its own, even more astonishing was what I found in the comment section. Rykov has a conversation with one of his followers, Yulia Nikolaevskaya. This is what came out via the Google Translate add on via Chrome:
Yulia Nikolaevskaya Wow. How nice to hear that. I wonder if Trump will become president, will they keep such rhetoric towards Russia?
Konstantin Rykov He also came to the intelligence service to understand the reaction to Donald
My jaw absolutely dropped when I read that. If this was correct--and Rykov was relaying his actual knowledge (in front of Michael McFaul, no less)--he was admitting Carter Page, while a member of the Trump campaign, came to Moscow to meet with members of the Russian intelligence services.
This was not just a smoking gun, it was a smoking gun with a confession note tied to it written in the victim's blood and smeared with the perp's fingerprints. This seemed to directly correlate with the Steele Dossier's claim that Page met with Russian intel figure Igor Diveykin while he was in Russia in July 2016, a fact that would have certainly supported the FISA warrant later issued on Page. Either McFaul or anyone monitoring Rykov's postings could have plausibly relayed these claims to US intel.
I wanted to scream these facts from the mountain top, especially whenever the FISA warrant from Page was assailed by Trump supporters. I tried numerous times to notify media outlets/personalities about this, but to no greater success. Finally independent journalist Scott Stedman--who helped publicize Rykov's November 2016 "confession" on the media--did mention it in a tweet and it has received a small bit of attention on Twitter, but nothing yet from any major media sources.
This was all this week, when renewed attention has been focused on Page due to release of the heavily redacted FISA warrant on him.
Also this week, I have been appraised--and I do think it's genuine and not simply a matter of disinfo--that there could be another plausible translation for Rykov's second statement in his post, one that is somewhat more vague as to the scope of Page's activities.
The alternate translation reads something to the effect of: "He came to investigate to understand the reaction to Donald."
When you put the sentence in dispute directly into the Google Translate website feature (as opposed to the browser add on), it reads: "He came to explore to understand the reaction to Donald."
The Facebook translation service is a little more ominous, reading: "He and came to recon to understand the reaction to Donald." ("Recon" suggests a more covert and out of plain sight motive behind Page's actions.)
The phrase in original Russian that Rykov uses is: "Он и приехал на разведку, чтобы понять реакцию на Дональда."
So what is more likely to be correct, the Google Chrome translation app, or the more benign alternate translations? I ran it by several DUers who know Russian and there was no consensus as to whether or not Rykov was actually admitting that Page was communicating with Russian intelligence officers.
The key word of dispute here has to be "разведку" and whether that has a certain expected dual meaning when used by Russians. If you translate that word alone in Google Translate, you'll find that it could mean "Exploration". But it also could specifically mean "intelligence service."
Notably, if you go to Google Translate and ask for the standalone translation of "exploration", it will give you the Russian word "исследование." If you look up "investigate", it will give you "исследовать." Neither of these are the same as the word Rykov used, which is "разведкy." And the standalone translation of "intelligence service" via Google Translate is "разведка" which is a variation of the word Rykov used.
Could Rykov have attempted to been sly and used a word like "разведкy", which apparently has a dual meaning, and the Google Chrome translation app betrayed his motives?
Or was Rykov simply claiming that Carter Page went to Russia to simply investigate from Russians--even ordinary Russians--as to what their opinions on Donald Trump were?
But why would Rykov go to the bother of saying that? Who cares what Joe or Sally Russian thinks about Donald Trump, seeing that they're not Americans and they can't vote in our elections? Why would Carter Page go through the effort of trying to get the opinion of ordinary Russians on Donald Trump? That seems like a waste of time and rather silly, even for a silly guy like Carter Page.
The only Russians who seemed important enough to have an opinion on Donald Trump would be those connected to the Kremlin or FSB or GRU, and if Carter Page was in fact communicating with any of those persons in July 2016, it is indeed a very huge, enormous deal.
The known knowns (as Donald Rumsfeld would put it) about Carter Page were this:
1. We know he had been in contact with members of Russian intelligence services back in 2013
2. We know that in July 2016, while an active member of the Trump campaign's foreign policy team, he traveled to Moscow and delivered a speech at the New Economic School
3. We know that Rykov's post deeming this speech a "cover" for other activities of Page was written in July 2016 while Page was in Moscow, and we know that Michael McFaul was aware of this particular post
4. We know that the Steele Dossier--whether verified or not--contains a memo written in late July 2016 (right after Page's visit) claiming that Page met with Russian intel officer Igor Diveykin while Page was in Moscow in July 2016.
This dual/disputed translation and/or choice of words by Rykov might be something of a caveat, but notwithstanding, I still think his Facebook post is a whopper of a smoking gun.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Original Russian:
Link to Facebook post (which knock on wood, is still up):
https://www.facebook.com/konstantin.rykov/posts/10209422386386902
