Trump's son hunted in Mongolia with Putin-linked oligarch, FT
Photo: Donald Trump Jr. (Getty Images)
Donald Trump Jr. spent several days with Russian businessman Umar Kremlev, a close associate of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, during a summer hunting trip to Mongolia, the Financial Times reports.
In August, the US president’s son arrived in Ulaanbaatar and traveled to a camp in the Uvs Province. During the trip, he hunted an endangered Altai argali sheep. Since 2019, he has reportedly shot at least two other animals of the same species in Mongolia.
As a member of the US president’s family, Trump Jr. was accompanied by the US Secret Service.
According to federal records, the US Embassy in Ulaanbaatar paid $18,715 for the security detail’s accommodation between August 23 and September 6.
Meeting with Kremlev
The FT reported that Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), left a press conference in Kazakhstan and traveled to Mongolia on an overnight charter flight.
He was accompanied by Artur Martirosov, a partner at the Russian venture capital fund Voskhod, which is under US sanctions.
Sources told the publication that Trump Jr. and Kremlev avoided taking photographs together.
Dinner with the president
After spending two days together, Kremlev returned to Ulaanbaatar before traveling to Yakutsk for a boxing match. Meanwhile, Trump Jr. stayed in Mongolia for another week and headed to Bayan-Ölgii Province to hunt Siberian ibex.
He later returned to the capital, where he had dinner with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh. A government representative initially posted photos of the meeting on Facebook, saying they had discussed bilateral relations and business opportunities, but later deleted the post.
A representative for Trump Jr. described the meeting as informal and focused on outdoor recreation.
The FT noted that the first known meeting between Trump Jr. and Kremlev took place last year in Istanbul, with boxer Manny Pacquiao also in attendance. At the meeting, the US president’s son described the Russian businessman as “not only a leader, but a friend.”
On September 14, ProPublica published an investigation alleging that Umar Kremlev, an oligarch close to Putin, had secretly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars toward Donald Trump Jr.’s lavish wedding in the Bahamas.
Donald Trump later responded to the allegations, saying his son Donald Trump Jr. would repay Kremlev for the money he had spent on the wedding celebrations.
The Telegraph also reported that Kremlev is seeking to regain control of Olympic boxing through his IBA organization and gain political leverage through Trump Jr.
