uk, Костянтин Килимник
, birth_date =
, birth_place =
Kryvyi Rih
Kryvyi Rih ( uk, Криви́й Ріг , lit. "Curved Bend" or "Crooked Horn"), also known as Krivoy Rog (Russian: Кривой Рог) is the largest city in central Ukraine, the 7th most populous city in Ukraine and the 2nd largest by area. Kr ...
,
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
,
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, death_date =
, death_place =
, citizenship =
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, occupation =
Political consultant
Political consulting is a form of consulting that consists primarily of advising and assisting political campaigns. Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media (largely tel ...
, known_for =
Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
The Russian government interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with the goals of harming the campaign of Hillary Clinton, boosting the candidacy of Donald Trump, and increasing political and social discord in the United States. Acc ...
, criminal_charge =
Konstantin Viktorovich Kilimnik (russian: Константин Викторович Килимник; uk, Костянтин Килимник; born 27 April 1970) is a Russian/Ukrainian
political consultant
Political consulting is a form of consulting that consists primarily of advising and assisting political campaigns. Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media (largely tel ...
. In the United States, he became a
person of interest
"Person of interest" is a term used by law enforcement in the United States, Canada, and other countries when identifying someone possibly involved in a criminal investigation who has not been arrested or formally accused of a crime. It has no leg ...
in multiple investigations regarding
Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
The Russian government interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with the goals of harming the campaign of Hillary Clinton, boosting the candidacy of Donald Trump, and increasing political and social discord in the United States. Acc ...
, particularly due to his ties with
Paul Manafort
Paul John Manafort Jr. (; born April 1, 1949) is an American lobbyist, political consultant, and attorney. A long-time Republican Party campaign consultant, he chaired the Trump presidential campaign from June to August 2016. Manafort served ...
, an American political consultant, who
was a campaign chairman for
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
.
Kilimnik was reported by
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' to be "Person A" listed in court documents filed by the Special Counsel against Manafort. He is also believed to be Person A in court documents filed in the criminal indictment of
Alex van der Zwaan
Alex Rolf van der Zwaan (; born September 1984) is a Belgian-born Dutch attorney formerly with the London branch of New York-based international law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
On 20 February 2018, he pleaded guilty to one count ...
.
The April 2019
Mueller Report concluded Kilimnik was connected to
Russian intelligence agencies
The intelligence agencies of the Russian Federation, often unofficially referred to in Russian as ''Special services'' ( rus, Спецслужбы), include:
* Federal Security Service (FSB), an agency responsible for counter-intelligence and othe ...
, while the August 2020 final report on 2016 election interference from the
Senate Intelligence Committee
The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (sometimes referred to as the Intelligence Committee or SSCI) is dedicated to overseeing the United States Intelligence Community—the agencies and bureaus of the federal government of ...
characterized him as a "Russian intelligence officer".
In 2017, Kilimnik denied having ties to Russian intelligence agencies.
Kilimnik was indicted by
Special Counsel
In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exist ...
Robert Mueller
Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.
A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...
's grand jury on 8 June 2018 on charges of
obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, is an act that involves unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investigators, or other gov ...
and conspiracy to obstruct justice by attempting to
tamper with a witness on behalf of Manafort.
United States intelligence community
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...
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. 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 promoting the false narrative that Ukraine, rather than
Russia, had interfered in the 2016 election.
Early life
Kilimnik was born on 27 April 1970
at
Kryvyi Rih
Kryvyi Rih ( uk, Криви́й Ріг , lit. "Curved Bend" or "Crooked Horn"), also known as Krivoy Rog (Russian: Кривой Рог) is the largest city in central Ukraine, the 7th most populous city in Ukraine and the 2nd largest by area. Kr ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
,
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.
Fluent in Russian and Ukrainian before his service in the
Soviet Army
uk, Радянська армія
, image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg
, alt =
, caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army
, start_date ...
,
he became fluent in Swedish and English as a linguist
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
The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...
of the Soviet Union.
He was a translator in the
Soviet Army
uk, Радянська армія
, image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg
, alt =
, caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army
, start_date ...
and worked closely with its GRU.
He took Russian citizenship after the
dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
.
He worked in Sweden as an interpreter for a Russian arms dealer.
Kilimnik worked for the
International Republican Institute
The International Republican Institute (IRI) is an American nonprofit organization. Most of its board is drawn from the Republican Party. It is committed to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide by helping political parties to become more iss ...
(IRI) in Moscow from 1995 to early 2005;
the IRI is an organisation which receives funding from the United States government to support democracy.
According to
anonymous sources
In journalism, a source is a person, publication, or knowledge other record or document that gives timely information. Outside journalism, sources are sometimes known as "news sources". Examples of sources include but are not limited to officia ...
, when applying for his position with the IRI, he responded to the question about how he learned English by stating that the "Russian military intelligence" taught him and he became known among Moscow political operatives as "Kostya, the guy from the GRU".
In 1997, he traveled to the United States using a Russian
diplomatic passport
A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...
.
''The New York Times'' reported two former IRI colleagues said Kilimnik was dismissed in April 2005 after the chief of Russian Federation's
Federal Security Service
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) RF; rus, Федеральная служба безопасности Российской Федерации (ФСБ России), Federal'naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Feder ...
gave a speech discussing internal private meetings at the institute. Kilimnik was suspected of leaking details of an IRI meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia. Kilimnik himself told ''The New York Times'' in April 2018 that he had been dismissed for having freelanced as an interpreter for Manafort, which was effectively confirmed by a spokesman for the IRI who said such an action ran counter to the organization's code of ethics.
Nearly a year later, an IRI representative declined in February 2019, to say whether Kilimnik leaving the organisation had any connection to Kilimnik's alleged links to Russian intelligence.
In the Mueller Report, a former colleague is reported to have told the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
that Kilimnik was fired because of his strong links to Russian intelligence services.
Employment by Manafort
Recruited by Philip M. Griffin as a translator for businessman
Rinat Akhmetov
Rinat Leonidovych Akhmetov, ; russian: Ринат Леонидович Ахметов, ; tt-Cyrl, Ринат Леонид улы Әхмәтов, translit=Rinat Leonid uly Äkhmätov (born on 21 September 1966) is a Ukrainian billionaire and b ...
and seeking a better income than available at IRI, Kilimnik met
Paul Manafort
Paul John Manafort Jr. (; born April 1, 1949) is an American lobbyist, political consultant, and attorney. A long-time Republican Party campaign consultant, he chaired the Trump presidential campaign from June to August 2016. Manafort served ...
in 2005 and became an employee of Manafort's consulting firm.
After the end of his association with IRI in April 2005, he lived and worked in Kyiv and Moscow while his wife and two children remained in Moscow living in a modest house near the
Sheremetyevo International Airport
Sheremetyevo Alexander S. Pushkin International Airport ( rus, links=no, Международный аэропорт Шереметьево имени А. С. Пушкина, p=ʂɨrʲɪˈmʲetʲjɪvə ''Mezhdunarodny aeroport Sheremetyevo imen ...
.
Some reports say Kilimnik ran the Kyiv office of Manafort's firm, Davis Manafort International, and was Manafort's right-hand man in Kyiv.
They began working for
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of Di ...
after the 2004
Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution ( uk, Помаранчева революція, translit=Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate afterm ...
cost him the Presidency. With help from Manafort and Kilimnik, Yanukovych became president in 2010.
Kilimnik told
RFE/RL
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
in February 2017 that he spent 90% of his time inside the Presidential administration, and assisted Manafort.
From 2011 to 2013, with liaison to Viktor Yanukovych's
chief of staff
The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...
Serhiy Lyovochkin
Serhiy Volodymyrovych Lyovochkin ( uk, Сергій Володимирович Льовочкін, born 17 July 1972) is a Ukrainian politician, currently a member of the Parliament of Ukraine. Over 20 years, he has held various leading posts in ...
, Kilimnik, Manafort,
Alan Friedman
Alan Friedman (; born April 30, 1956) is an American journalist, author, documentary writer and producer, TV anchor and former media and public relations executive.
Early life and education
Friedman was born in New York City from a Jewish f ...
, Eckart Sager, who was a one time
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
producer, and
Rick Gates advised on an international public relations strategy.
This effort supported the administration of
President of Ukraine
The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of Di ...
.
[ Yanukovych hired Manafort's company Global Endeavour, a ]St. Vincent and Grenadines
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...
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. When Yanukovych fled the country, Manafort and Kilimnik gained employment with the Ukrainian party Opposition Bloc
russian: Оппозиционный блок
, colorcode =
, logo = Opposition Bloc.png
, logo_size = 240px
, leader1_title = Chairman
, leader1_name = Rinat Akhmetov (one wing)Dmytro Firtash & Yuriy Boyko ( ...
which is backed by the same oligarchs
Oligarch may refer to:
Authority
* Oligarch, a member of an oligarchy, a power structure where control resides in a small number of people
* Oligarch (Kingdom of Hungary), late 13th–14th centuries
* Business oligarch, wealthy and influential bu ...
who backed Yanukovych. 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.
Around 2010, Kilimnik collaborated with Rinat Akhmetshin
Rinat Rafkatovitch Akhmetshin (russian: Ринат Рафкатович Ахметшин, born 1967) is a Russian-American when the Washington-based lobbyist was trying to sell a book disparaging one of Yanukovych's opponents.
Kilimnik and Manafort actively assisted Ukrainian oligarchs
Ukrainian oligarchs (Ukrainian: українські олігархи, romanized: ukrayins'ki oliharkhy) are business oligarchs who emerged on the economic and political scene of Ukraine after the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum. This peri ...
and Russian oligarchs
Russian oligarchs (Russian: олигархи, romanized: ''oligarkhi'') are business oligarchs of the former Soviet republics who rapidly accumulated wealth in the 1990s via the Russian privatisation that followed the dissolution of the Soviet ...
who are close to the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin. 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.[
In a February 22, 2017, interview with Christopher Miller of '']Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
'', Kilimnik explained the existence of a peace effort between Russia and Ukraine called the "Mariupol Plan" in which Viktor Yanukovych would return as president of Russia's illegally controlled regions and Crimea in Ukraine.[ ]Andriy Artemenko
Andy Victor Kuchma ( uk, Андрій Вікторович Артеменко, born 14 January 1969, Kyiv), formerly Andrii Viktorovych Artemenko, is a former Ukrainian politician and businessman. Andrii Viktorovych Artemenko was a People's Dep ...
's peace plan was known as the "New initiative for Peace".
In 2017, Kilimnik helped Manafort write an op-ed for a Kyiv newspaper. A journalist in Ukraine, Oleg Voloshyn
Oleg Anatolievich Voloshyn (russian: Олег Анатольевич Волошин, uk, Олег Анатолійович Волошин; born 7 April 1981, Mykolaiv) is a Russian-Ukrainian journalist, political pundit on 112 Ukraine, politic ...
, has disputed this assertion stating that he and Manafort wrote the op-ed and that he e-mailed the rough draft to Kilimnik. The op-ed may have violated a gag order
A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed onto any unauthorized third party. The phrase may ...
issued against Manafort by a US court and may have been a breach of Manafort's bail conditions.
In 2018, CNBC
CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...
reported Kilimnik to be variously "described as a fixer, translator or office manager to President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
’s ex-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.
Prosecutor General of Ukraine investigation of Kilimnik
From August until December 2016, Prosecutor General of Ukraine
The prosecutor general of Ukraine (also procurator general of Ukraine, uk, Генеральний прокурор України) heads the system of official prosecution in courts known as the Office of the Prosecutor General ( uk, Офіс ...
Yuriy Lutsenko
Yuriy Vitaliyovych Lutsenko ( uk, Юрій Віталійович Луценко; born 14 December 1964) is a Ukrainian politician whose most recent post was Prosecutor General of Ukraine from 12 May 2016[Robert Mueller
Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.
A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...]
's Special Counsel investigation
In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to Criminal investigation, investigate, and potentially prosecution, prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing fo ...
. Mueller considered Kilimnik a vital witness in the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[ The ]National Anti-Corruption Bureau
National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine ( uk, Національне Антикорупційне Бюро України, ''НАБУ'') or NABU is a Ukrainian law enforcement anti-corruption agency which investigates corruption in Ukraine ...
informed the United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
that Lutsenko had both thwarted Ukraine's investigation into Kilimink and allowed Kilimnik to leave Ukraine for Russia.[
]
Mentions in court filings
Kilimnik has been reported by ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' to be the "Person A" in Court filings in December 2017 against Manafort and Rick Gates.
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. The sentencing memo for Alex van der Zwaan
Alex Rolf van der Zwaan (; born September 1984) is a Belgian-born Dutch attorney formerly with the London branch of New York-based international law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
On 20 February 2018, he pleaded guilty to one count ...
filed by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller
Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.
A graduate of Princeton University and New York U ...
states that Gates told van der Zwaan that Person A, believed to be Kilimnik, was a former intelligence officer with the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate Main Intelligence Directorate may refer to:
* Main Directorate of Intelligence (Ukraine), the military intelligence service of Ukraine
* GRU
The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́ ...
(GRU).
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.
Indictment
On 8 June 2018, Kilimnik was indicted by Mueller on charges of obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, is an act that involves unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investigators, or other gov ...
and conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...
to obstruct justice, in conjunction with Manafort, regarding unregistered lobbying work. 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."
Connection to the Trump campaign
Through numerous regular email exchanges, Kilimnik conferred with Manafort after Manafort became Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
's campaign manager in April 2016 and requested that Manafort give "private briefings" about the Trump campaign to Oleg Deripaska
Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska (russian: Олег Владимирович Дерипаска; born 2 January 1968) is a Russian billionaire and an industrialist. Deripaska enriched himself on previously state-owned assets that were privatized in ...
, a Russian billionaire and close ally to Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
.[ On 2 August 2016, Kilimnik met with Manafort and Rick Gates at the Grand Havana Room at ]666 Fifth Avenue
660 Fifth Avenue (formerly 666 Fifth Avenue and the Tishman Building) is a 41-story office building on the west side of Fifth Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The office tower was ...
. 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. Gates later testified the three left the premises separately, each using different exits.
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 There have been four presidential campaigns waged by Donald Trump for President of the United States. He has additionally mused about running on several other occasions.
Donald Trump presidential campaign may refer to:
* Donald Trump 2000 presid ...
. Both Rick Gates and Paul Manafort were in contact with him at the time. 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
Cozy Bear, classified by the United States federal government as advanced persistent threat APT29, is a Russian hacker group believed to be associated with one or more intelligence agencies of Russia. The Dutch General Intelligence and Security ...
and Fancy Bear
Fancy Bear (also known as APT28 (by Mandiant), Pawn Storm, Sofacy Group (by Kaspersky), Sednit, Tsar Team (by FireEye) and STRONTIUM (by Microsoft)) is a Russian cyber espionage group. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has said with a medium level ...
.
Kilimnik and Manafort had been involved in the Pericles Fund together, an unsuccessful business venture financed by Oleg Deripaska
Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska (russian: Олег Владимирович Дерипаска; born 2 January 1968) is a Russian billionaire and an industrialist. Deripaska enriched himself on previously state-owned assets that were privatized in ...
. In July 2016, Manafort told Kilimnik to offer Deripaska private information in exchange for resolving multimillion-dollar disputes about the venture.
In a 2018 classified State Department assessment, Ukraine's former Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko
Yuriy Vitaliyovych Lutsenko ( uk, Юрій Віталійович Луценко; born 14 December 1964) is a Ukrainian politician whose most recent post was Prosecutor General of Ukraine from 12 May 2016[obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, is an act that involves unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investigators, or other gov ...]
.[ '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported on 31 August 2018 that an unnamed Russian political operative and a Ukrainian businessman had illegally purchased four tickets to the inauguration of Donald Trump
The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States marked the commencement of Donald Trump's term as president and Mike Pence as vice president. An estimated 300,000 to 600,000 people attended the public ceremony hel ...
on behalf of Kilimnik. The tickets, valued at $50,000, were purchased with funds that had flowed through a Cypriot bank account. The transaction was facilitated by Sam Patten, an American lobbyist who had related work with Paul Manafort and pleaded guilty to failing to register as a foreign agent. Kilimnik attended Trump's inauguration.
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,[ and discussed a Ukrainian peace plan with him. Most of the ]polling
Poll, polled, or polling may refer to:
Figurative head counts
* Poll, a formal election
** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts
** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions
** Polling places o ...
data was reportedly public, although some was private Trump campaign polling data. Manafort asked Kilimnik to pass the data to Ukrainians Serhiy Lyovochkin
Serhiy Volodymyrovych Lyovochkin ( uk, Сергій Володимирович Льовочкін, born 17 July 1972) is a Ukrainian politician, currently a member of the Parliament of Ukraine. Over 20 years, he has held various leading posts in ...
and Rinat Akhmetov
Rinat Leonidovych Akhmetov, ; russian: Ринат Леонидович Ахметов, ; tt-Cyrl, Ринат Леонид улы Әхмәтов, translit=Rinat Leonid uly Äkhmätov (born on 21 September 1966) is a Ukrainian billionaire and b ...
. Manafort also asked Kilimnik to pass polling data to Oleg Deripaska
Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska (russian: Олег Владимирович Дерипаска; born 2 January 1968) is a Russian billionaire and an industrialist. Deripaska enriched himself on previously state-owned assets that were privatized in ...
who is close to Putin.[
Kilimnik, ]Andrii Derkach
Andrii Leonidovych Derkach ( uk, Андрій Леонідович Деркач; born 19 August 1967) is a Ukrainian politician and businessman. He has been a member of the Ukrainian Parliament from 1998 to January 2023, serving seven terms, wi ...
, who is a member of the Russian intelligence community
The intelligence agencies of the Russian Federation, often unofficially referred to in Russian as ''Special services'' ( rus, Спецслужбы), include:
* Federal Security Service (FSB), an agency responsible for counter-intelligence and othe ...
and very close to Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...
, and Andrii Telizhenko, who is part of "Derkach's inner circle" and a close associate of Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...
, supported Michael Caputo
Michael Raymon Caputo (born March 24, 1962) is an American political strategist and lobbyist. In April 2020, Caputo was appointed as assistant secretary of public affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services in the Trump administration. ...
, who was producer, and Sergey Petrushin, who is a Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
co-producer that lives in Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
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
One America News Network (OANN), also known as One America News (OAN), is a far-right, pro-Trump cable news channel founded by Robert Herring Sr. and owned by Herring Networks, Inc., that launched on July 4, 2013. The network is headquartere ...
(OANN) on 21 January 2020 only two weeks before the Senate's acquittal of Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
after his first impeachment trial.
In its August 2020 final report on the 2016 election interference, the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee
The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (sometimes referred to as the Intelligence Committee or SSCI) is dedicated to overseeing the United States Intelligence Community—the agencies and bureaus of the federal government of ...
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. The report mentions Kilimnik about 800 times, 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". 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
WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...
.
This effort became a major element of conspiracy theories related to the Trump–Ukraine scandal
Since 2016, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his allies have promoted several conspiracy theories related to the Trump–Ukraine scandal. One such theory seeks to blame Ukraine, instead of Russia, for interference in the 2016 Unite ...
promoted by President Trump and his associates.
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 promoting the false narrative that Ukraine, rather than Russia, had interfered in the 2016 election. A Treasury spokesman declined to relay further information to NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
about the new intelligence on the issue. The Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
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.
Russian residence
Since at least August 2018, Kilimnik and his wife have been living in a $2 million home in a heavily guarded elite gated community
A gated community (or walled community) is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences ...
in Khimki
Khimki ( rus, Химки, p=ˈxʲimkʲɪ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, 18.25 kilometres northwest of central Moscow, and immediately beyond the Moscow city boundary.
History Origins and formation
Khimki was initially a railway station tha ...
, north-west of the Moscow Region
Moscow Oblast ( rus, Моско́вская о́бласть, r=Moskovskaya oblast', p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ), or Podmoskovye ( rus, Подмоско́вье, p=pədmɐˈskovʲjə, literally "under Moscow"), is a federal subject of Rus ...
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.
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
*
United States Department of Justice Superseding indictment
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilimnik, Konstantin
1970 births
Living people
Political campaign staff
Russians associated with interference in the 2016 United States elections
Russian individuals subject to the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions