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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
There was previously a scandal over Umar Kremlinov’s payment for part of the wedding of the U.S. president’s son.
Donald Trump Jr., the son of the U.S. president, spent two days hunting in Mongolia in August together with Russian businessman Umar Kremlinov, who has ties to Vladimir Putin’s entourage and his personal security service.
This is according to a Financial Times investigation, whose authors analyzed flight data, public documents, and social media posts, and also spoke with local guides and officials.
According to the publication, at the end of August Trump Jr. arrived in Mongolia and headed to a hunting camp in theUvs Province. 27 Kremlinov arrived there in August after a stop in Kazakhstan. He was accompanied by Russian businessman Artur Martirosov. The men tried not to photograph together.
A Trump Jr. representative said the men are connected by friendship rather than business interests. According to him, they were introduced by a mutual acquaintance from the hunting community.
After the hunt, Trump Jr. stayed in Mongolia for another week, where he hunted Altai ibex. Later in Ulaanbaatar he met Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga. According to representatives of both sides, it was an informal dinner, during which they discussed mostly leisure in nature, not policy or official visits.
What is known about Kremlinov’s ties to the Russian authorities?
According to FT, Kremlinov built his career through contacts with Russian political and security circles. According to documents obtained by the publication, in his youth he was convicted for extortion and assault. In 2017 year he headed the Russian Boxing Federation, and in 2020 he became president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), which received substantial sponsorship funding from Gazprom.
Counterintelligence experts warn that such contacts between the U.S. president’s son and the Russian, could create opportunities for manipulation by Russian intelligence services. Former director of counterintelligence for the U.S. National Security Council Golden Triplett told FT that Russian intelligence services would seek to exploit any connections with people who are of significant intelligence value.
Trump Jr. and Kremlinov first appeared publicly together at an IBA event in Istanbul last year. Then the U.S. president’s son called the Russian a friend.
In May, Kremlinov also attended Trump Jr.’s wedding celebrations on a private island in the Caribbean Sea and paid part of the costs. After ProPublica published this, Donald Trump said his son repaid the money.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "FT: Трамп-молодший полював у Монголії з бізнесменом повязаним із Путіним". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: LB.ua.
