LONDON — Julian Assange had just pulled off one of the biggest scoops in journalistic history, splaying the innards of American diplomacy across the web. But technology firms were cutting ties to his website, WikiLeaks, cable news pundits were calling for his head and a Swedish sex crime case was threatening to put him behind bars.

Caught in a vise, the silver-haired Australian wrote to the Russian Consulate in London.

"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 was recently obtained by The Associated Press.

The Nov. 30, 2010 missive is part of a much larger trove of WikiLeaks emails, chat logs, financial records, secretly recorded footage and other documents leaked to The Associated Press.

The files provide both an intimate look at the radical transparency organization and an early hint of Assange's budding relationship with Moscow.

The ex-hacker's links to the Kremlin would become increasingly salient before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, when the FBI says Russia's military intelligence agency directly supplied WikiLeaks with stolen emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman and other Democratic figures.

Representatives for Assange, who has been barred from internet access at his refuge inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, didn't return repeated messages seeking details about the visa bid. Kristinn Hrafnsson, a sometime-spokesman for the group, declined to comment, calling the AP's story "rather uninteresting." The Russian Embassy in London said it didn't discuss the personal details of visa applicants.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/exclusive-wikileaks-docs-show-assange-bid-for-russian-visa/ar-BBNrvLx?OCID=ansmsnnews11

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4080006&forum_id=2#36829625)

Shamir told the AP he was plagued by memory problems and couldn't remember delivering Assange's letter or say whether he eventually got the visa on Assange's behalf.

"I can't possibly exclude that it happened," Shamir said in a telephone interview. "I have a very vague memory of those things."

Shamir's memory appeared sharper during a January, 20, 2011 interview with Russian News Service radio — a Moscow-based station now known as Life Zvuk, or Life Sound. Shamir said he'd personally brokered a Russian visa for Assange, but that it had come too late to rescue him from the sex crimes investigation.

Russia "would be one of those places where he and his organization would be comfortable operating," Shamir explained. Asked if Assange had friends in the Kremlin, Shamir smiled and said: "Let's hope that's the case."

On Nov. 30, 2010 — the date on the letter — Interpol issued a Red Notice seeking Assange's arrest, making any relocation to Russia virtually impossible.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4080006&forum_id=2#36834575)

"Mr. Assange did not apply for such a visa at any time or author the document. The source is document fabricator & paid FBI informant Sigurdur Thordarson who was sentenced to prison for fabricating docs impersonating Assange, multiple frauds & pedophilllia."

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1041642204274548737

OP should be shot out of a cannon

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4080006&forum_id=2#36834583)

"I can't possibly exclude that it happened," Shamir said in a telephone interview. "I have a very vague memory of those things."

Shamir's memory appeared sharper during a January, 20, 2011 interview with Russian News Service radio — a Moscow-based station now known as Life Zvuk, or Life Sound. Shamir said he'd personally brokered a Russian visa for Assange, but that it had come too late to rescue him from the sex crimes investigation.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4080006&forum_id=2#36834632)