Mandelson was targeted by Russian states intelligence over a period of decades (Image: Getty) Lord Mandelson spent decades in the crosshairs of Russian state intelligence, The Express understands, with security services allegedly fully aware of his status long before Sir Keir Starmer handed him Britain’s most prized diplomatic posting. Moscow’s interest in Mandelson intensified after he took up the role of European Commissioner for Trade in 2004, sources said, and had been a known concern within the intelligence community for years before his Washington appointment. Despite that, and despite a due diligence process that surfaced his connections to both Russia and China, he was still installed in the role — one that brings its occupant into daily proximity with the most powerful administration on earth. Epstein under the microscope Russian intelligence services are also understood to have kept a close watch on Mandelson’s association with Jeffrey Epstein — the American financier and serial child sex offender who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 awaiting trial on trafficking charges. That relationship ultimately proved …