Donald Trump Jr, son of US President Donald Trump, travelled to Mongolia in late August for a hunting trip, where he met Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, a multimillionaire closely linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The trip was confirmed by Financial Times journalists based on statements from local guides and officials, flight data, social media posts and publicly available documents.
Trump Jr landed in the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, before travelling several hundred kilometres further to a hunting camp in western Mongolia. There, he spent two days in the company of Kremlev, a small number of guides, drivers and cooks. The US embassy in Ulan Bator spent $18,715 from its budget on hotel rooms for Secret Service agents who secured Trump Jr during his stay from 23 August to 6 September. Trump Jr typically travels with constant Secret Service protection as he is part of the immediate family of the US President.
Umar Kremlev is 43 years old, born in Tajikistan as Umar Lutfulloev, and changed his surname in 2010. Russian courts convicted him in 2004 for extortion and in 2007 for physical assault. He joined the biker gang "Nocturnal Wolves" and became close to Alexey Rubzhnoy, the man who heads Putin's personal presidential security service. In 2020, he took the helm of the International Boxing Association (IBA), into which money from Russian state giant Gazprom has been pumped. Putin personally awarded him the Order of Friendship. Last year, he took over Rolf, the largest car dealership chain in Russia, after Putin issued a decree removing the company from state ownership and effectively handing it over to Kremlev.
Kremlev left an IBA press conference in Kazakhstan on 27 August, flew to Ulan Bator on a night charter flight, and then proceeded directly to the president's son's hunting camp. He was accompanied by Russian businessman Artur Martirosov, a partner in the venture capital fund "Voskhod", which is under US sanctions. One participant in the trip told journalists that Trump Jr and Kremlev tried to avoid any joint photography at the camp. After two days at the hunting camp, Kremlev returned to Ulan Bator, from where he flew to Yakutsk for an IBA boxing match.
Trump Jr remained in Mongolia for another week and continued hunting in the Bayan-Ulgii province. One guide revealed that during the hunt, he shot an Altai argali, a wild sheep species that is endangered. According to Financial Times data, Trump Jr has killed at least two more argali in Mongolia since 2019. After finishing the hunt, he returned to Ulan Bator and met with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh. A spokesperson for the president's son stated that the meeting was of an unofficial nature and that the speakers mainly discussed outdoor activities.
After Donald Trump was re-elected as president, Kremlev sent him an open letter praising him for opposing the participation of transgender women in women's boxing. In September last year, Trump Jr appeared with Kremlev on stage during an IBA panel in Istanbul. Spokespeople claim that a mutual friend introduced them a few years ago and that Trump Jr and Kremlev are bound solely by a passion for boxing and hunting. A representative for Trump Jr described Kremlev as a "personal friend", insisting that they became close due to a shared interest in boxing and time in nature, and that there are no business ties between them.
Dan Hoffman, a former senior CIA official, warns that it is almost impossible for Kremlev to have any contact with the Trump family without Russian services knowing in advance. Experts remind that Moscow regularly uses sport and private gatherings as a cover for establishing contacts and gathering influence around the US political elite. The hunt in Mongolia was organised shortly after Trump Jr's wedding celebration, held in May on private islands in the Caribbean. Investigative portal ProPublica previously reported that Kremlev covered part of the celebration costs, including the rental of one of the islands and a fireworks display.
