A foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign met with a Russian spy in 2013 and gave him documents about the energy industry, according to court filings.

The Russian, Victor Podobnyy, tried to recruit Carter Page, an energy consultant working in New York at the time, as an intelligence source, according to the court documents.

Podobnyy was one of three men charged in connection with a Cold War-style Russian spy ring.

Page briefly served as a foreign policy adviser to Trump's campaign, though he split from the campaign before the election and the White House says the president has no relationship with him.

Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, met with Russian intelligence operative Victor Podobnyy in 2013 and provided him documents about the energy industry, according to court filings; Page is seen here in Moscow in December 2016

He's among the Trump associates under scrutiny as the FBI and congressional committees investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Page acknowledged in a statement Monday night that he 'shared basic immaterial information and publicly available research documents' with Podobnyy.

He described the information as 'nothing more than a few samples from the far more detailed lectures' he delivered at New York University in 2013.

BuzzFeed News first reported the filings.

Trump, seen here during a meeting with Egypt's president in Washington, DC on Monday, has vigorously denied that he or his associates were in contact with Russia during the election

Trump has vigorously denied that he or his associates were in contact with Russia during the election.

He's blasted the focus on his possible Russia ties as a 'ruse' and has insisted that the real story is the leaking of information to the media and allegations that he and his associates were improperly surveilled by the Obama administration.

'The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers,' Trump wrote in a tweet Monday morning.

'The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers,' Trump wrote in a tweet Monday morning

Page's contacts with Podobnyy happened about three years before Trump listed him as a foreign policy adviser to the campaign. Trump and his advisers have been vague about how Page became connected with the campaign.

The court filings include a transcript of Podobnyy speaking with Igor Sporyshev, who was also charged in the spy ring, about Page.

'I like that he takes on everything,' Podobnyy said, according to the transcript. 'For now his enthusiasm works for me. I also promised him a lot.'

Separately, it was reported Monday that the United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between American businessman and Trump supporter Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and the incoming president, in an article by The Washington Post.

It was reported Monday by The Washington Post that the United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between American businessman and Trump supporter Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin; Prince is seen here testifying regarding private security contracting overseas before Congress in Washington, DC in October 2007

Citing US, European and Arab officials, the Post reported that the UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria, a Trump administration objective that would be likely to require major concessions to Moscow on US sanctions. The full agenda remains unclear, the newspaper said.

The meeting took place nine days before Trump's inauguration, the Post reported.

Prince, the founder of the security firm Blackwater and now the head of the Hong Kong-based company Frontier Services Group, has ties to Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon and is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Prince (L), pictured testifying regarding private security contracting overseas before Congress in Washington, DC in October 2007, is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos (R), pictured at the White House in Washington, DC on March 29, 2017

Prince has ties to Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, pictured here at the White House in Washington, DC on February 7, 2017

The FBI has been scrutinizing the meeting in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean as part of the broader probe of Russian interference in the 2016 US election and alleged contacts between associates of Putin and Trump, the Post reported that US officials said.

The FBI declined to comment, the newspaper said.

Prince reportedly presented himself as an unofficial envoy for the president-elect to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant, the officials said, according to The Post. The officials did not identify the Russian.

Prince was a high-dollar campaign donor. He and his family reportedly gave more than $10 million to GOP candidates and super PACs in 2016. He was also a frequent critic of both President Barack Obama and Trump's opponent, Democrat and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

In response to the Post story, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said 'we are not aware of any meetings.' A Prince spokesman said the meeting 'had nothing to do with President Trump.'

Both said Prince had no role in the Trump transition.