Bill Gates’s alleged Russian lover linked with notorious Kremlin spy

Bill Gates’s alleged mistress was an associate of the notorious Kremlin spy Anna Chapman, raising fresh questions over the Microsoft founder’s links to Jeffrey Epstein.

It emerged last week that the convicted paedophile threatened to expose Mr Gates over an alleged affair he had with Mila Antonova, a Russian bridge player nearly 30 years his junior.

Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial over further sexual abuse charges, was a financial backer of Ms Antonova.

It can now be revealed that Ms Antonova was also an acquaintance of Ms Chapman, a glamorous member of a Russian spy ring who was exposed as a sleeper agent and deported from the US in 2010.

A photograph unearthed by the Daily Mail shows Ms Chapman and Ms Antonova taking a selfie as they walk along a New York road, at some point before the KGB spy’s arrest.

It raises fresh questions over the nature of Epstein’s relationship with Mr Gates and whether either of the men knew of Ms Antonova’s links to a Russian spy ring.

Mr Gates has admitted that Epstein tried “to threaten” the billionaire over his past relationship.

There is no evidence of any wrongdoing on Ms Antonova’s part.

Mr Gates met with Epstein multiple times, once flying on his private jet. He later expressed regret for meeting with Epstein after the latter’s conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Epstein was known to leverage his numerous relationships with elite, wealthy figures to further his own position.

Mr Gates, 67, was a keen bridge player and met Ms Antonova, who was in her mid-20s at the time, at a tournament in 2009.

The father-of-three was still married to Melinda Gates at the time. The couple separated two years ago.

‘I tried to kick him with my leg’

Ms Antonova, believed to now be 39, described their encounter at a bridge tournament in a video. “I didn’t beat him, but I tried to kick him with my leg,” she said.

Epstein threatened to expose the affair unless Mr Gates supported a charity the convicted paedophile wanted to set up, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“Mr Gates met with Epstein solely for philanthropic purposes,” a spokesman for the Microsoft co-founder said last week.

“Having failed repeatedly to draw Mr Gates beyond these matters, Epstein tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship to threaten Mr Gates.”

She added: “Mr Gates had no financial dealings with Epstein.”