Trump Jr. hunted in Mongolia in August with Kremlin-linked oligarch

Donald Trump Jr., son of US President Donald Trump, travelled to Mongolia in August for a hunting trip and spent two days there with Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch close to the Kremlin. The British newspaper the Financial Times reported this on Tuesday, 27 October. Counterintelligence experts say contacts between a US president's family members and people tied to Russian authorities may threaten national security.

How the trip was reconstructed

The newspaper pieced together the circumstances using accounts from local guides and officials, flight data, social media posts and publicly available documents.

The meeting took place in late August. Kremlev flew on a charter flight from Kazakhstan to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital, and then travelled to Trump Jr.'s hunting camp in the west of the country. He was accompanied by Russian businessman Artur Martirosov, a partner at the venture capital fund Voshod, who is under US sanctions. After two days together, Kremlev returned to Ulaanbaatar.

Trump Jr.'s side

The press secretary of the US president's son said the two men share a personal friendship built on a common passion for hunting, fishing and time in nature. According to him, a mutual acquaintance from hunting circles introduced them, and there is no business relationship between them.

Earlier connection

On 14 September, the research centre ProPublica, based in New York, reported that Kremlev had partly paid for Trump Jr.'s wedding in the Bahamas in May this year and attended it himself. Kremlev's companies paid roughly 200,000 dollars, including for the rental of a private island and fireworks. Trump Jr. and his wife confirmed that Kremlev covered part of the costs, and in a statement called him a "dear friend".

The reports about the wedding financing drew wide resonance in the United States. US media also voiced scepticism about the friendship, noting that Kremlev barely speaks English.