Konstantin Kilimnik

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In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Viktorovich and the family name is Kilimnik.
Konstantin Kilimnik
Константин Килимник (
Political consultant
Known forRussian interference in the 2016 United States elections

Konstantin Viktorovich Kilimnik (

political consultant. In the United States, he became a person of interest in multiple investigations regarding Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, particularly due to his ties with Paul Manafort, an American political consultant, who was a campaign chairman for Donald Trump
.

Kilimnik was reported by

Senate Intelligence Committee characterized him as a "Russian intelligence officer".[3] In 2017, Kilimnik said he had no connection to Russian or any other intelligence service.[4] Kilimnik was indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's grand jury on 8 June 2018 on charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice by attempting to tamper with a witness on behalf of Manafort.[5][6]

United States intelligence community analysis released in March 2021 accused Kilimnik of being one of the proxies of Russian intelligence who promoted and laundered misleading or unsubstantiated narratives about Joe Biden to US media organizations, US officials, and prominent US individuals, including some close to former President Trump and his administration" to benefit the 2020 Trump presidential campaign.[7][8] In April 2021, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Kilimnik for providing Russian intelligence with "sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy" provided to him by Manafort from the Trump campaign, and for making the unjustified claim that Ukraine, rather than Russia, had interfered in the 2016 election.[9][10]

Early life

Kilimnik was born on 27 April 1970[11] at Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Soviet Union.[12] Fluent in Russian and Ukrainian before his service in the Soviet Army,[12] he became fluent in Swedish and English as a linguist[12] at the Moscow Military Institute of the Ministry of Defense, which trained interpreters for the Soviet Union's Main Intelligence Directorate, known as the GRU of the Soviet Union.[13] He was a translator in the Soviet Army and worked closely with its GRU.[12] He took Russian citizenship after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[13] He worked in Sweden as an interpreter for a Russian arms dealer.[13]

Kilimnik worked for the

FBI that Kilimnik was fired because of his strong links to Russian intelligence services.[11]

Employment by Manafort

Recruited by Philip M. Griffin as a translator for businessman

RFE/RL in February 2017 that he spent 90% of his time inside the Presidential administration, and assisted Manafort.[17]

From 2011 to 2013, with liaison to Viktor Yanukovych's

St. Vincent and Grenadines based consulting and lobbying company, which during the end of Yanukovych's presidency transferred $750,000 out of Ukraine and also paid Kilimnik $53,000 during November and December 2013.[19][20] When Yanukovych fled the country, Manafort and Kilimnik gained employment with the Ukrainian party Opposition Bloc which is backed by the same oligarchs who backed Yanukovych.[12] At some point, Opposition Bloc ceased paying Manafort's firm but even though the non-payment forced Manafort's firm to shut down their Kyiv office, Kilimnik continued to advise the party while working to collect unpaid fees for Manafort's firm.[12]

Around 2010, Kilimnik collaborated with Rinat Akhmetshin when the Washington-based lobbyist was trying to sell a book disparaging one of Yanukovych's opponents.[13]

Kilimnik and Manafort actively assisted Ukrainian oligarchs and Russian oligarchs who are close to the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin.[21] Also, they worked to ensure that Viktor Yanukovych and his Party of Regions would reduce and eventually sever Ukraine's ties to the United States and Europe so that Ukraine would become much closer to Russia, the Kremlin, and Vladimir Putin.[21]

In a February 22, 2017, interview with Christopher Miller of

Andriy Artemenko's peace plan was known as the "New initiative for Peace".[22]

In 2017, Kilimnik helped Manafort write an op-ed for a Kyiv newspaper. A journalist in Ukraine,

Oleg Voloshyn, has disputed this assertion stating that he and Manafort wrote the op-ed and that he e-mailed the rough draft to Kilimnik.[23] The op-ed may have violated a gag order issued against Manafort by a US court and may have been a breach of Manafort's bail conditions.[4]

In 2018, CNBC reported Kilimnik to be variously "described as a fixer, translator or office manager to President Donald Trump’s ex-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.[24]

Prosecutor General of Ukraine investigation of Kilimnik

Further information: Trump–Ukraine scandal

From August until December 2016, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko conducted an investigation into Konstantin Kilimnik but did not arrest him.[16][25][26] Kilimnik managed Davis Manafort International in Kyiv.[16] Kilimnik left Ukraine for Russia in June 2016.[25] Davis Manafort International in Kyiv had been accused of money laundering by Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation.[27] Mueller considered Kilimnik a vital witness in the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[21][25] The National Anti-Corruption Bureau informed the United States Department of State that Lutsenko had both thwarted Ukraine's investigation into Kilimink and allowed Kilimnik to leave Ukraine for Russia.[21]

Mentions in court filings

Further information: Criminal charges brought in the Mueller special counsel investigation

Kilimnik has been reported by The New York Times to be the "Person A" in Court filings in December 2017 against Manafort and Rick Gates.[4]

Court filings in late March 2018 allege that he knew that Kilimnik was a former officer with the Russian military intelligence service. These came after Gates reached a plea deal in exchange for cooperation in the investigation.

Robert S. Mueller states that Gates told van der Zwaan that Person A, believed to be Kilimnik,[2][29] was a former intelligence officer with the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU).[30]

Kilimnik also featured in the documents filed by Mueller in early December 2018 that explained why he believed Manafort had lied to investigators during the investigation conducted by Mueller's team.[31][32]

Indictment

On 8 June 2018, Kilimnik was indicted by Mueller on charges of

conspiracy to obstruct justice, in conjunction with Manafort,[33][6] regarding unregistered lobbying work.[34] According to their 2021 website, "The FBI is offering a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to the arrest of Konstantin Viktorovich Kilimnik."[35]

Connection to the Trump campaign

Further information:
Links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies and Business projects of Donald Trump in Russia

Through numerous regular email exchanges, Kilimnik conferred with Manafort after Manafort became

666 Fifth Avenue.[38] The encounter which, according to prosecutor Andrew Weissmann goes "very much to the heart of what the special counsel’s office is investigating," included a handoff by Manafort of internal polling data from Trump's presidential campaign to Kilimnik.[39] Gates later testified the three left the premises separately, each using different exits.[39]

According to Mueller's court filings, Kilimnik was still working with Russian intelligence when, during September and October 2016, he was known to be communicating with the Trump campaign. Both Rick Gates and Paul Manafort were in contact with him at the time.[15] Manafort has said that he and Kilimnik discussed the Democratic National Committee cyber attack and release of emails, now known to be undertaken by Russian hacker groups known as Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear.[30]

Kilimnik and Manafort had been involved in the Pericles Fund together, an unsuccessful business venture financed by Oleg Deripaska.[13] In July 2016, Manafort told Kilimnik to offer Deripaska private information in exchange for resolving multimillion-dollar disputes about the venture.[13]

In a 2018 classified State Department assessment, Ukraine's former Prosecutor General

Sam Patten, an American lobbyist who had related work with Paul Manafort and pleaded guilty to failing to register as a foreign agent.[40] Kilimnik attended Trump's inauguration.[41]

In January 2019, Manafort's lawyers submitted a filing to the court, in response to the Special Counsel's accusation that he had lied to investigators while supposedly co-operating with them. Through an error in redacting, the document accidentally revealed that while he was campaign chairman, Manafort met with Kilimnik, gave him polling data related to the 2016 campaign,[21] and discussed a Ukrainian peace plan with him. Most of the polling data was reportedly public, although some was private Trump campaign polling data.[a] Manafort asked Kilimnik to pass the data to Ukrainians Serhiy Lyovochkin and Rinat Akhmetov.[42][43] Manafort also asked Kilimnik to pass polling data to Oleg Deripaska who is close to Putin.[21]

Kilimnik, Andrii Derkach, who is a member of the Russian intelligence community and very close to Rudy Giuliani, and Andrii Telizhenko, who is part of "Derkach's inner circle"[b] and a close associate of Rudy Giuliani, supported Michael Caputo, who was producer, and Sergey Petrushin, who is a Russian co-producer that lives in Miami and a close associate of Caputo for over 25 years, making the documentary film The Ukraine Hoax: Impeachment, Biden Cash, and Mass Murder with guest host Michael Caputo which aired on the One America News Network (OANN) on 21 January 2020 only two weeks before the Senate's acquittal of Donald Trump after his first impeachment trial.[46][47][48][49][50][51][52]

In its August 2020 final report on the 2016 election interference, the bipartisan

Senate Intelligence Committee characterized Kilimnik as a "Russian intelligence officer" who worked with Manafort while he was Trump campaign manager to deflect suspicions of interference away from Russia and onto Ukraine.[3] The report mentions Kilimnik about 800 times,[53] although most of the details about his intelligence connections were redacted. However, the sharing of intelligence with Kilimnik by Manafort and others "represented a grave counterintelligence threat".[3] The committee acquired sufficient evidence to assert that Kilminik may have been involved directly in the plot, not only to hack the Democrats computers, but to pass on the information to WikiLeaks.[54][55]

This effort became a major element of conspiracy theories related to the Trump–Ukraine scandal promoted by President Trump and his associates.[56]

Sanctions

In April 2021, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Kilimnik for providing Russian intelligence with "sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy" provided to him by Manafort from the Trump campaign, and for making the untrue claim that Ukraine, rather than Russia, had interfered in the 2016 election.[9][10] A Treasury spokesman declined to relay further information to NBC News about the new intelligence on the issue.[57] The Associated Press reported it was the first occasion the United States government had concluded a strong connection existed between the campaign of Donald Trump and Russian intelligence.[10]

Russian residence

Since at least August 2018, Kilimnik and his wife have been living in a $2 million home in a heavily guarded elite

Moscow Region outside the Moscow Ring Road (MKAD). The area is the base of the Moscow unit of the GRU unit accused by Mueller in a July 2018 indictment of tacking the lead in the hacking emails of the Democrats in 2016.[34][58][59]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Konstantin Kilimnik.

Notes

  1. ^ According to the Mueller Report, Manafort shared with Kilimnik, who was to give the private information to Oleg Deripaska, 2016 Trump Campaign's confidential polling data from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in which states many Russian GRU agents were covertly targeting in support of Trump's campaign especially during the final days of the 2016 campaign.[21]
  2. ^ On 11 January 2021, United States Department of Treasury added additional sanctions against Andrii Derkach and also sanctioned the "former Ukrainian Government officials Konstantin Kulyk, Oleksandr Onyshchenko, Andriy Telizhenko, and current Ukraine Member of Parliament Oleksandr Dubinsky" as part of "Derkach's inner circle".[44][45]

References

  1. ^ a b c Bertrand, Natasha (30 March 2018). "The Shadowy Operative at the Center of the Russia Scandal". The Atlantic. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b Mazzetti, Mark (28 March 2018). "Trump Aide Spoke During Campaign to Associate Tied to Russian Intelligence". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Mazzetti, Mark (4 November 2020) [18 August 2020]. "G.O.P.-Led Senate Panel Details Ties Between 2016 Trump Campaign and Russia". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Polantz, Katelyn; Perez, Evan (29 March 2018). "Source: Mueller pushed for Gates' help on collusion". CNN. Atlanta, Georgia.
  5. ^ Gerstein, Josh (8 June 2018). "Mueller hits Manafort with new indictment for alleged obstruction of justice". Politico.
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    Mueller, Robert S. (8 June 2018). "Case 1:17-cr-00201-ABJ Document 318". United States Department of Justice
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  7. ^ Zachary Cohen, Marshall Cohen and Katelyn Polantz (16 March 2021). "US intelligence report says Russia used Trump allies to influence 2020 election with goal of 'denigrating' Biden". CNN.
  8. ^ Shesgreen, Deirdre. "Russia, Iran aimed to sway 2020 election through covert campaigns, US intelligence reports". USA Today.
  9. ^ a b Mangan, Dan (15 April 2021). "Trump campaign chief Manafort's associate Kilimnik gave Russia 2016 election strategy, polling, U.S. says". CNBC.
  10. ^ a b c Tucker, Eric (16 April 2021). "US says Russia was given Trump campaign polling data in 2016". AP News. Associated Press. Retrieved 21 May 2021. But the statement in a broader Treasury Department sanctions announcement was the first time the U.S. government had so directly drawn a connection from the Trump campaign to the Kremlin's intelligence services. ... Kilimnik was one of 32 people and entities sanctioned by the U.S. government for interference in the 2020 election. Officials say Kilimnik sought to promote the bogus narrative that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the 2016 election.
  11. ^ a b c Mueller, Robert S. (March 2019). "Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election Volume I" (PDF). Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Vogel, Kenneth P. (18 August 2016). "Manafort's man in Kiev". Politico. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h Kramer, Andrew E. (6 April 2018). "He Says He's an Innocent Victim. Robert Mueller Says He's a Spy". The New York Times. p. A7. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  14. ^ a b Vogel, Kenneth P.; Kramer, Andrew E. (23 February 2019). "Russian Spy or Hustling Political Operative? The Enigmatic Figure at the Heart of Mueller's Inquiry". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  15. ^ a b c Fryer-Biggs, Zachary (29 March 2018). "Mueller just connected a top Trump campaign staffer to Russian intelligence". Vox. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  16. ^ a b c Shane, Scott; Kramer, Andrew E. (3 March 2017). "Trump Team's Links to Russia Crisscross in Washington". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  17. ^ a b Miller, Christopher (23 February 2017). "Who Is Paul Manafort's Man In Kyiv? An Interview With Konstantin Kilimnik". Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  18. ^ a b Harding, Luke (5 April 2018). "Former Trump aide approved 'black ops' to help Ukraine president: Paul Manafort authorised secret media operation that sought to discredit key opponent of then Ukrainian president". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  19. ^ Leopold, Jason; Cormier, Anthony (29 October 2017). "These 13 Wire Transfers Are A Focus Of The FBI Probe Into Paul Manafort: BuzzFeed News has learned of a series of wire transfers, made by companies linked to Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, that federal officials deemed suspicious. Many of the wires went from offshore companies controlled by Manafort to American businesses". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  20. ^ a b Moore, Jack (29 October 2017). "Robert Mueller Probe: Manafort 'Suspicious' Wire Transfers Focus of FBI Trump-Russia Investigation". Newsweek. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
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  25. ^ a b c Kramer, Andrew E. (2 May 2018). "Ukraine, Seeking U.S. Missiles, Halted Cooperation With Mueller Investigation". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 September 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  26. ^ Vogel, Kenneth P. (4 December 2017). "Manafort Associate Has Russian Intelligence Ties, Court Document Says". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 5 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  27. ^ Vogel, Kenneth P.; Goldstein, Matthew (24 February 2018). "How Skadden, the Giant Law Firm, Got Entangled in the Mueller Investigation". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 24 February 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
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  30. ^ a b Friedman, Dan (29 March 2018). "Could an ex-Russian operative and an imprisoned escort crack open the Trump-Russia case?". Mother Jones.
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  32. ^ Swaine, Jon; McCarthy, Tom (8 December 2018). "Cohen spoke with Russian to set up Trump-Putin meeting, Mueller reveals". The Guardian. London, England. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  33. ^ Harris, Andrew M.; Schoenberg, Tom; Baker, Stephanie (8 June 2018). "Mueller Indicts Konstantin Kilimnik, Manafort's Ukraine Fixer". Bloomberg News.
  34. ^ a b Stone, Peter (9 November 2018). "Konstantin Kilimnik: elusive Russian with ties to Manafort faces fresh Mueller scrutiny". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 November 2018.
  35. ^ "KONSTANTIN VIKTOROVICH KILIMNIK — FBI". fbi.gov. 20 March 2021. Archived from the original on 20 March 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
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  37. ^ Hamburger, Tom; Helderman, Rosalind S.; Leoning, Carol D.; Entous, Adam (20 September 2017). "Manafort offered to give Russian billionaire 'private briefings' on 2016 campaign". The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
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  39. ^ a b Helderman, Rosalind S.; Hamburger, Tom (12 February 2019). "How Manafort's 2016 contact with Russian goes to 'heart' of Mueller's probe". The Washington Post.
  40. ^ Vogel, Kenneth P.; LaFraniere, Sharon; Goldman, Adam (31 August 2018). "Lobbyist Pleads Guilty to Steering Foreign Funds to Trump Inaugural". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  41. ^ "Russian-Ukrainian Operative Was at Trump Inauguration, Filing Shows". Reuters. 7 February 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2019 – via VOANews.com.
  42. ^ Polantz, Katelyn (8 January 2019). "Mueller believes Manafort fed information to Russian with intel ties". CNN. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  43. ^ LaFraniere, Sharon; Vogel, Kenneth P.; Haberman, Maggie (8 January 2019). "Manafort Accused of Sharing Trump Polling Data With Russian Associate". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  44. ^ "Treasury Takes Further Action Against Russian-linked Actors". U.S. Department of Treasury. 11 January 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  45. Political. Archived
    from the original on 12 January 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  46. ^ Stedman, Scott; Bernardini, Matt (30 April 2021). "Giuliani Probe Expands, Ukrainian Ally Under Criminal Investigation: Former Ukrainian politician Andrii Artemenko received a secret payment in 2019 from a television station owned by Putin's closest ally in Ukraine. The FBI is now investigating the Giuliani ally". Forensic News. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  47. Radio Free Europe
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  48. Times of San Diego. Archived from the original
    on 17 March 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  49. ^ Dilanian, Ken (16 March 2021). "Russia tried to help Trump in 2020, Iran tried to hurt him and China stayed out of it, says new report: A newly declassified intelligence community assessment also says no foreign actor hacked into the U.S. voting infrastructure, meaning machines or data". NBC News. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  50. ^ "Foreign Threats to the 2020 US Federal Elections" (PDF). United States National Intelligence Council (NIC). 10 March 2021. p. 3. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  51. ^ Vicens, AJ; Friedman, Dan (16 March 2021). "Russia Worked to Boost Trump in 2020—With Help From Giuliani, Fox News, and OANN: A US intelligence report also reveals Iranian meddling and Chinese consideration of similar efforts". Mother Jones. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  52. ^ Levai, Eric (17 March 2021). "OAN busted for airing anti-Biden documentary made by Russian spies: The network has a fraught relationship with the truth and the 2020 election". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  53. ^ Stern, David L. (18 August 2021). "FAQ: Who is Konstantin Kilimnik and why does his name appear 800 times in a Senate report?". -The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  54. ^ Miller, Greg; Demirjian, Karoun; Nakashima, Ellen (19 August 2020). "Senate report details security risk posed by 2016 Trump campaign's Russia contacts". The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  55. ^ Winter, Tom; Dilanian, Ken (18 August 2021). "Manafort associate is Russian spy, may have helped coordinate e-mail hack-and-leak, report says". NBCF News. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  56. ^ Demirjian, Karoun; Nakashima, Ellen (18 August 2020). "Trump's 2016 campaign chair was a 'grave counterintelligence threat,' had repeated contact with Russian intelligence, Senate panel finds". The Washington Post.
  57. ^ Winter, Tom; Alba, Monica (17 April 2021). "U.S. has new intel that Manafort friend Kilimnik gave Trump campaign data to Russia". NBC News. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  58. ^ "A Portrait of Konstantin Kilimnik, Russian patriot and Paul Manafort's buddy". Proekt. 22 August 2018. Archived from the original on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  59. ^ Жолобова, Мария (Zholobova, Maria); Badanin, Roman (22 August 2018). "Абсолютно советский человек. Портрет Константина Килимника, российского патриота, работавшего на окружение Дональда Трампа. "Проект" разыскал в Подмосковье Константина Килимника, таинственного россиянина из дела о вмешательстве России в американские выборы. Оказалось, что Килимник работал с Полом Манафортом не только на Украине, но и в Киргизии. И там, и там они отстаивали внешнеполитические интересы России, а часть этой работы могла оплачиваться в компании миллиардера Олега Дерипаски" [Absolutely Soviet people. Portrait of Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian patriot who worked for Donald Trump's entourage. “Project” found in the suburbs of Moscow, Konstantin Kilimnik, a mysterious Russian from the case of Russian interference in the US election. It turned out that Kilimnik worked with Paul Manafort not only in Ukraine, but also in Kyrgyzstan. Again and again they defended Russia's foreign policy interests, and part of this work was paid by the company of billionaire Oleg Deripaska.]. Проект Медиа (Proekt) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Further reading

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