Does Pentagon Chief Hegseth Have a Russian Email Account?
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth looks on as US President Donald Trump holds a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 26, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is under scrutiny after reports surfaced that he might have opened an account with the Russian email service mail.ru.
This comes as a new twist as the Signal chat scandal involving senior Trump administration officials continues to unfold.
Following reports that top advisers to US President Donald Trump used a commercial communication app to discuss a military strike on Yemen and included a journalist in the chat by mistake, reporters from the German magazine Der Spiegel questioned how easily accessible the personal data of key US officials might be.
Through an editorial investigation, they discovered that mobile phone numbers, email addresses, and even passwords belonging to high-ranking US officials had been found online.
Among those exposed were Hegseth, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, putting the security practices of Trump’s top security officials into question.
Journalists used public databases – including those pertaining to data breaches – to uncover the information. The leaked contacts were linked to various online platforms, including Instagram, LinkedIn, Dropbox, WhatsApp and Signal.
For Hegseth’s data, Der Spiegel reporters simply contacted a commercial provider of contact information primarily used by companies for sales, marketing and recruitment purposes.
Other Topics of Interest
Zelensky Hints Uncertainty on New Unfavorable US Resources Deal – What Changed?
The Ukrainian president said the terms of the deal are constantly being revised, and he will not travel to the US soon to sign it until they are set.
The reporters submitted a link to his LinkedIn profile and received Hegseth’s Gmail address, phone number, and other details in return. The same technique was used to obtain Waltz’s information, which was found alongside passwords in open databases connected to Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp.
Gabbard, meanwhile, appeared to take more precautions, but journalists still located her email addresses on WikiLeaks and Reddit.
Hegseth’s alleged Russian email address
After the investigation, Finnish disinformation researcher Pekka Kallioniemi published a screenshot from an alleged database compiling past data breaches that purportedly showed an email address owned by Hegseth under the mail.ru domain.
Interesting article about how the Trump administration's security advisors' mobile numbers, emails, and passwords can be found in commercial databases and publicly available leaks.
My question is, why does Pete Hegseth have a Russian email address? https://t.co/R8GUUDMnQc pic.twitter.com/gIYWEhty5n
— Pekka Kallioniemi (@P_Kallioniemi) March 27, 2025
He questioned on social media why the Pentagon chief would have a Russian email account, though he did not confirm whether it was genuine or fabricated.
The X post sparked skepticism online. Some users suggested the email address might have been created by outsiders to discredit Hegseth, while others speculated it to be a joke.
Several hours later, Kallioniemi said the information “was fetched from some of the public leak databases going around [the] internet.”
“This particular leak is from 2016, so the account was created before that. The password used was consistent with other similar accounts allegedly linked to Hegseth,” Kallioniemi wrote.
UPDATE: The information above was fetched from some of the public leak databases going around internet. This particular leak is from 2016, so the account was created before that. The password used was consistent with other similar accounts allegedly linked to Hegseth.@realTimaV…
— Pekka Kallioniemi (@P_Kallioniemi) March 27, 2025
As further proof supporting Kallioniemi’s claims, an X user named antii said that the password for phegseth@mail.ru matches the one used by phegseth@alumni.princeton.edu, an account linked to Hegseth’s alma mater. The user also shared a screenshot from the LeakPeek database as evidence.
The password for phegseth@mail.ru matches the one used for phegseth@alumni.princeton.edu, which is the university that he studied at.
Source: LeakPeek pic.twitter.com/FBUl4CeRib
— antii 🇺🇦 (@antii__dote) March 27, 2025
Kyiv Post determined that the domain @alumni.princeton.edu is legitimate as it is used by alumni of Princeton University, according to the university’s site. However, Kyiv Post cannot determine if the account belonged to Hegseth himself.
According to Breach Directory, a service that compiles past data breaches, the password for phegseth@alumni.princeton.edu – which supposedly has the same password as phegseth@mail.ru – was leaked twice in two data breach incidents, once in 2016 and once in 2019.
Official responses, counter arguments
The White House has downplayed the leak. A National Security Council official stated that Waltz’s accounts were changed before he joined Congress in 2019. However, Der Spiegel reported that his contact details and messaging accounts remained active when the investigation was published.
X user antii later claimed that Hegseth’s email was tied to a Russian phone number and a Proton Mail account.
The email is linked to a russian phone number (+7) and a Proton inbox.
Concerning. Looking into this https://t.co/saFc7w5Pdx pic.twitter.com/k2VTW63rCy
— antii 🇺🇦 (@antii__dote) March 27, 2025
However, Timofey Vi, a Russian expert from the Global Fact-Checking Network, challenged the claims on social media, saying the account “had never existed before.”
To prove his point, he registered a similar email himself and showed a screenshot of his Russian phone number during the process.
I see everyone’s is asking why Sec.Defense Pete Hegseth had Russian mail account?
He did not, because this account never existed. Until now.
I have just registered it. pic.twitter.com/kkwREXC2p4
— Timofey V (@realTimaV) March 27, 2025
Mail.ru’s official policy prohibits duplicate email addresses, making it unlikely that a previously existing account could be recreated.
Despite this, some social media users remained convinced that the number originally belonged to Hegseth.