These events were supposed to stay hidden forever: In secret, the World Cup bids Qatar and Russia were working together to secure the 2018 and 2022 World Cups for each other, according to an investigation by SonntagsBlick.
The investigation also shows that Qatar developed daring espionage plans to ensure its Russian partners were actually keeping their word. The target: the Russian state leadership. Furthermore: To gather information, Qatar counted on the help of a former and a then still-active employee of the U.S. intelligence agency CIA.
At the beginning of December 2010, when the world football association Fifa awarded the World Cup, presidents, prime ministers and princes stayed at posh hotels in Zurich. It was the election that secured Russia and Qatar the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Russia's ruler, then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, also flew in.
Behind the scenes, Qatar wanted to conduct espionage in Zurich. Against none other than Putin while he was on Swiss soil. Qatar ordered the spying on the Russian ruler, documents show.
One of the plans Qatar pursued was to assign the espionage operation to an American security firm called Global Risk Advisors. The company founded by the ex-CIA agent Kevin Chalker consists primarily of former employees of US intelligence services. At the time, the company had been working for Qatar for months and spied on people associated with Fifa, as the news agency Associated Press and Swiss Public Television (SRF) reported. . According to SRF, Kevin Chalker had already traveled to Zurich for the purpose of bugging hotel rooms of Fifa officials and journalists.
However, the planned spying on Putin was not directed at the competition. It concerned espionage among friends.
Qatar and Russia's World Cup bids cooperated behind the scenes. Various media have speculated about such a secret collaboration in recent years. Several sources from both the Russian and Qatari camps have now for the first time confirmed agreements behind the scenes between Russia and Qatar to SonntagsBlick. The investigation also shows that the spies hired by Qatar organized meetings with the head of Russia's bid, Vitaly Mutko, then Russia's sports minister and a Fifa executive committee member.
In the intelligence business, it is common to spy on allies. To make sure they actually do what they promise. According to the principle: «Trust is good, control is better.»
The renowned German intelligence expert Erich Schmidt-Eenboom says: «Wanting to spy on a foreign head of state – and one like Vladimir Putin at that – is extremely significant. That is a completely different level than espionage against Fifa officials.» Although Qatar commissioned it, the investigation found no evidence that the espionage against Putin actually took place.
Still, the case shows that Qatari espionage ambitions were almost unlimited. And that Qatar felt so safe in Switzerland that it planned to carry out its most delicate operations here. During the investigation, no evidence could be found that Swiss counter intelligence, meaning the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), disrupted the activities – despite several operations on Swiss soil.
British lawyers for the Qatari government called the information “false” in response to SonntagsBlick. A detailed statement had not been provided by the time of this report. The Russian Football Union did not respond to a request for comment. Lawyers for Global Risk Advisors and Kevin Chalkerstated that «all allegations» are false.
Qatar's path to hosting the World Cup was accompanied by allegations of corruption and espionage. The investigation now brings another aspect to light. According to documents and statements from several sources, the Qatari spies had help from a then still active employee of the CIA.
Kevin Chalker, the spy hired by Qatar, was a CIA operative for five years before founding Global Risk Advisors. One of his superiors at the CIA was a man named Denis Mandich. Years later, Mandich became Chalker's partner at Global Risk Advisors. Today, he is also the chief technology officer of the encryption company Qrypt, founded by Chalker. At the time the World Cup was awarded and for several years afterwards, Mandich continued to work for the CIA.
But even then, as an active CIA agent, Mandich, according to the investigation, helped his friend Chalker with information in exchange for payment. According to documents and several sources, Mandich passed on information from internal CIA databases: For example, he made queries for information about people or telephone numbers.
Intelligence expert Schmidt-Eenboom says: «It is to be assumed that such information is classified.» And relationships to current intelligence service employees are exactly the strength of the private companies that ex-spies head, Schmidt-Eenboom says.
Furthermore, as part of his work for the CIA, Mandich had sensitive intelligence contacts with a Russian oligarch – a Kremlin insider who was involved in Russia's World Cup bid. Mandich used this delicate CIA contact to provide Kevin Chalker, who had been hired by Qatar, with information about the Russian bid.
A few weeks ago, the Associated Press reported that Mandich, while working at the CIA, reviewed Chalker's proposals to Qatar and offered advice. The investigation by SonntagsBlick now shows that this cooperation began much earlier – and was much more problematic than previously known.
The lawyers of Global Risk Advisors also called all allegations against Denis Mandich false.
The activities are explosive because Qatar's toughest competitor for the awarding of the World Cup at the time was the USA. The superpower was only narrowly defeated by the tiny desert state.
Behind the scenes, two Americans assisted the sheikhs – and helped ensure that the football World Cup did not come to their own country. So we have to watch football in Doha in winter instead of in New York or Miami in the summer.
Both Denis Mandich and Kevin Chalker are currently facing a civil lawsuit in the United States filed by Elliott Broidy, a confidant of former US President Donald Trump. Broidy's private data was leaked to newspapers – he accuses Chalker and Mandich of hacking him on behalf of Qatar. The defendants deny all allegations. The case is pending.
In December 2010, Russia and Qatar's bids for the World Cup were able to celebrate their World Cup together. In the years that followed, close economic cooperation developed between the two countries. In 2011, shortly after the World Cups were awarded, Qatar negotiated a stake in a Russian liquid gas project in the Arctic. Later, the mini-desert state actually invested two billion dollars. Further Investments in Moscow and St. Petersburg airports and in the Kremlin-aligned bank VTB followed. Today, the Qatar sovereign wealth fund controls 19 percent of Russia's third-largest company: Rosneft, the state-owned oil company.
At the same time, European countries are trying to get rid of their dependence on Russia in the energy sector through deals with Qatar of all countries. Just a few weeks ago, Germany's Green Economics Minister, Robert Habeck, signed supply contracts for liquid gas with the emirate. When Swiss Federal Councilor Ueli Maurer traveled to Doha in March 2022, he also spoke to the Qatari Energy Minister about liquid gas deliveries to Switzerland. Despite the connections between Qatar and Russia, with the same intention: to escape from dependence on Russian gas with Qatar's help.
For the spy hired by Qatar, Kevin Chalker, things are getting uncomfortable. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been investigating his work for Qatar for months, as reported by the Associated Press. The FBI does not comment. Multiple sources confirmed to SonntagsBlick that the investigation is ongoing. Chalker denies the allegations.