A LEAKED intelligence dossier alleges that Peter Mandelson was treated as a “privileged contact” by Russian intelligence and regarded in Moscow as “one of the most significant RIS [Russian intelligence services] achievements in manipulating UK politics” over the past three decades.
The document, codenamed Project Fish and compiled by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele, is said to trace alleged interest in Mandelson back to the late Soviet era.
It further details that the KGB opened a file on him while he was Labour’s director of communications between 1985 and 1990.
According to The Telegraph, it states that Mandelson "was contacted by the KGB for the first time in about 1990 and since then has become a privileged contact for Russian intelligence, first as a promising Labour functionary, then as a key member of Blair’s inner circle before getting elected to Parliament and becoming a senior politician in his own right".
Project Fish forms part of a broader report on British political and business figures said to have been targeted or monitored by Russian agencies.
It alleges that Russia’s services held information on Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, Nigel Farage and Jeremy Corbyn, among others, although it does not suggest any of them – or Mandelson – passed information to the Kremlin or committed any wrongdoing.
Sources close to Mandelson have dismissed the allegations as baseless, insisting he “did not pass any information to Russia or do anything wrong” and highlighting occasions when he publicly opposed Russian state interests.
The report itself is understood not to present direct evidence that he spied for Russia, relying instead on sourced assertions about how he was perceived by Russian operatives.
Compiled in 2022, after Steele left British intelligence and as part of his private work for a client seeking to understand Russian influence operations in the UK, Project Fish also reportedly details how Russia’s SVR gathered material on Mandelson’s relationship with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
It claims the SVR “meticulously collected and compiled information” about their relationship “over a long period”, including Epstein’s efforts to secure a Russian visa and lobbying for early release following his conviction for soliciting a minor for sex.
The report says that by the time Mandelson became EU trade commissioner in 2004 he had become “the object of the FSB’s attention”, and alleges that his position as a non‑executive director at Russian conglomerate Sistema “brought him into close contact with intelligence officers” posing as managers and officials.
It adds that he “is known to have accepted hospitality” on Oleg Deripaska’s superyacht, while noting accusations – denied by Mandelson – that he granted favours to the Kremlin‑linked oligarch.
The claims further intensify scrutiny of the decision to appoint Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US in 2025.
Downing Street sources refused declined to comment to The Telegraph on whether the report’s findings were shared with government before he was sent to Washington.
The Met Police is separately investigating Mandelson over alleged leaks to Epstein during his time in Gordon Brown’s government, while EU authorities are probing possible fraud, corruption or serious misconduct during his period as trade commissioner.
Steele – who was also the author of contested report about Donald Trump – and Mandelson declined to comment on the dossier.
Steele currently runs private-investigation firm Orbis Business Intelligence which specialises in Russia. He is also a director at Walsingham Partners, a management consultancy.
Mandelson was fired as UK ambassador to the US.
He and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor were arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office over their connections with Epstein.
They were subsequently released under investigation.
