Thread by @karolcummins

💰Nader - Kirill Dmitriev

11/9/16, at 9:34 am, Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and an informal envoy for President Vladimir V. Putin, sent a text message to George Nader a friend with ties to the Trump campaign. #RDIF #Dmitriev
nytimes.com/2019/04/20/us/…

Erik Prince’s RU contact Kirill Dmitriev:

“I think that we can be helpful in guiding this relationship understanding each of the sides well :). My boss (Putin) sends his warmest greetings and I will see him again early next week.”

thedailybeast.com/erik-princes-r…

Mr. Dmitriev wanted to connect quickly with someone in Trump’s inner circle, By the end of the month, he was in touch with Rick Gerson, a friend of Kushner’s who manages a New York hedge fund.
#Gerson
fastcompany.com/90233994/how-a…

Dmitriev is the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the state’s $10 billion sovereign wealth fund. RDIF’s links with the Kremlin may have led the U.S. to sanction the fund. #RDIF
nytimes.com/2019/04/20/us/…

📌It also boasts tight links with Abu Dhabi:

📌The UAE sovereign fund Mubadala has co-invested with RDIF in 40 investments in Russia since 2013.
nytimes.com/2019/04/20/us/…

One of Prince MbZ younger brothers had introduced Mr. Gerson to a Russian businessman (Dmitriev) who acts as a liaison between President Vladimir V. Putin and the Persian Gulf monarchs, according to the special counsel’s report.
nytimes.com/2019/06/02/wor…

Dmitriev & Gerson discussed a potential joint investment venture.

The Mueller Report suggests that Dmitriev’s real interest lay elsewhere: He had been instructed by Putin, he told Gerson, to come up with a plan for “reconciliation” btwn the US & Russia
nytimes.com/2019/04/20/us/…

Dmitriev & Gerson worked together on a 2-page proposal for ‘cooperation’ between US & RU.

📌That doc later made its way to Kushner, Tillerson, and Bannon, Nothing came of the idea that the Russian sovereign fund would invest with Mr. Gerson.
nytimes.com/2019/04/20/us/…

📌The outreach by Mr. Dmitriev, according to the special counsel’s report, was part of a broad, makeshift effort by the Kremlin to establish ties to Trump that began early in the campaign and shifted into high gear after Trump’s ‘victory’.

nytimes.com/2019/04/20/us/…

‼️When Trump won, Putin deployed his oligarchs

https://twitter.com/karolcummins/status/1119236639874641923?s=21

🔑Why Prince MbZ would seek to connect Russia with Trump’s circle remains a matter of debate, but he has worked for years to try to entice Putin away from Iran, according to American diplomats and leaked emails from the Emirati ambassador in Washington.
nytimes.com/2019/06/02/wor…

But prosecutors are also investigating the activities of other operatives and go-betweens working for MbZ who tried to insinuate themselves around Trump.

nytimes.com/2018/05/19/us/…

Investigators are still examining the campaign contacts of an Israeli specialist (Zamel) in social media manipulation who has worked for Prince MbZ

[Rick Gates Sought Online Manipulation Plans From Israeli Intelligence Firm (#PsyGroup) for Trump Campaign]
nytimes.com/2018/10/08/us/…

🔑Those efforts were channeled largely through people in the business world in both countries. Especially after the election, they led to a shocking conflation of diplomatic & financial interests that was a stark departure from any incoming adm in the US.
nytimes.com/2019/04/20/us/…

🔑Of significance: Kushner’s meeting with VEB and Trump surrogate Erik Prince’s secret meeting the following month with Kirill Dmitriev who is the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) in the Seychelles.

medium.com/@JamesFourM/tr…

RDIF was a 100% subsidiary of VEB until 2016. Even after the two separated, the RDIF and VEB remain closely linked.

Were Kush & Prince engaged in setting up a secret back channel with the Kremlin via “cut outs’ RDIF/VEB?
medium.com/@JamesFourM/tr…

📌On the same day the RDIF agreed to a joint fund with the CDB, VEB agreed to not one but two deals with the same CDB. The deals included cooperation agreements lasting years and included billions of dollars in investments.

medium.com/@JamesFourM/tr…

📌Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ), the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, set up the secret meeting in the Seychelles & did so shortly after meeting with Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon in Trump Tower. The meeting occurred around nine days before Trump’s inauguration.
medium.com/@JamesFourM/tr…

Trump’s lack of preparation for victory & disorganized transition created a vacuum that, as Russia sought out access & influence, was quickly filled by a number of people eager to portray themselves as access brokers or to generate business opportunities.
nytimes.com/2019/04/20/us/…

Trump and 18 of his associates had at least 140 contacts with Russian nationals and WikiLeaks, & their intermediaries, during the 2016 campaign and presidential transition.
nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Note Dec 2018:

Prince MbZ’s guest list last included: Tony Blair; Nicolas Sarkozy; Condoleezza Rice; Hadley, Mohamed A. El-Erian, David M. Rubenstein & Thomas S. Kaplan; & Kai-Fu Lee.

MbZ also included Dmitriev, the Russian businessman linked to Putin.
nytimes.com/2019/06/02/wor…

@threadreaderapp unroll please and thank you.

#KirillDmitriev
#Dmitriev
#Saudi
#MbZ
#UAE
#Putin
#Russia
#Kushner
#Bannon
#Trump
#Nader
#RDIF
#Seychelles
#Gerson
#Gates
#UAEsovereignfundMubadala
#Zamel
#PsyGroup