🕷️ Crawler Inspector

URL Lookup

Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 139 (from laksa018)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa139.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical, ml_categories_json AS ml_categories_json, ml_types_json AS ml_types_json, ml_intent_types_json AS ml_intent_types_json, meta_language AS meta_language, attrs_author AS attrs_author, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(attrs_publish_time), 0) AS attrs_publish_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(attrs_original_publish_time), 0) AS attrs_original_publish_time, ifNull(attrs_is_republished, 0) AS attrs_is_republished, ifNull(attrs_nr_words, 0) AS attrs_nr_words, ifNull(attrs_boilerpipe_nr_words, 0) AS attrs_boilerpipe_nr_words, ifNull(body_ext_links_number, 0) AS body_ext_links_number, ifNull(body_int_links_number, 0) AS body_int_links_number, ifNull(meta_nofollow, 0) AS meta_nofollow, ifNull(meta_noarchive, 0) AS meta_noarchive, ifNull(props_was_rendered, 0) AS props_was_rendered, ifNull(src_redirect, \'\') AS src_redirect, ifNull(download_time_msec, 0) AS download_time_msec, ifNull(download_ttfb_msec, 0) AS download_ttfb_msec, ifNull(download_size, 0) AS download_size FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://theweek.com/politics/is-donald-trump-a-russian-agent\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://theweek.com/politics/is-donald-trump-a-russian-agent\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/is-donald-trump-a-russian-agent","crawl_time":1776534509,"first_indexed_time":1742024840,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,theweek!\/politics\/is-donald-trump-a-russian-agent s443","src_root_hash":"5471547289642633339","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Is Donald Trump a Russian agent? | The Week","meta_descriptions":["'We have to consider the possibility that President Trump is a Russian asset' former Tory minister Graham Stuart tweeted last week. Do we?"],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Donald Trump\n's policies have been unprecedentedly pro-Russian.\nUntil this week, when the US pressed the Kremlin to commit to a ceasefire, the Trump administration had apparently asked for nothing from President\nPutin\n, while making a series of unilateral concessions on behalf of the Ukrainians: ruling out\nNato membership for Ukraine\n, demanding that they make territorial concessions, voting in Russia's favour at the UN over the invasion,\nresuming diplomatic relations with Moscow\n. In his confrontation with\nPresident Zelenskyy\nlast month, Trump took offence at what he called Zelenskyy's \"tremendous hatred\" for President Putin.\nArticle continues below\nThe Week\nEscape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.\nSUBSCRIBE & SAVE\nSign up for The Week's Free Newsletters\nFrom our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.\nFrom our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.\nLatest Videos From The Week\nWhat sort of rumours?\nThe most recent, in February, was spread by Alnur Mussayev, a former KGB officer from Kazakhstan. He said on Facebook that Trump was signed up in Moscow in 1987 under the codename \"Krasnov\". Trump visited Moscow that year, and he would have been under KGB surveillance. There have also been claims from Czech defectors that Czechoslovakian intelligence mounted an extensive\nspying\noperation on Trump, together with \"friends\" from the KGB, after he married a Czech model, Ivana Zelníková, in 1977.\nThe evidence for the first claim looks flimsy: Mussayev was not employed by the KGB in 1987, and never worked for the section of the organisation that recruited foreign spies. And there is certainly no evidence that either operation recruited Trump.\nWhat other rumours are there?\nThe best-known were compiled in a\ndossier by Christopher Steele\n, a former head of MI6's\nRussia\ndesk, who did research into Trump for Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016. Steele was sufficiently alarmed that he took his findings to US intelligence. He found that the Russian government was \"working to get Mr Trump elected\" in that year's presidential election, and that his associates had met Russian agents, possibly to conspire with them.\nThe first two claims were later verified by the US special counsel\nRobert Mueller's report\n– but it did not prove a criminal conspiracy. Steele also recorded a series of \"unverified and potentially unverifiable\" claims. The most lurid was that the FSB (formerly the KGB) has footage of Trump engaging in depraved activities with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel in 2013, which it uses as\nkompromat\n: blackmail material. There is no proof of this. Trump does, though, have a long financial relationship with Russia.\nA free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com\nWhat financial relationship?\nTrump tried to expand his property empire into Russia, with little success. But Russian money saved his floundering businesses in the 1990s, when bankruptcies had made him toxic to US lenders. A Russian-American mobster named Felix Sater poured cash into Trump's businesses. \"Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this,\" Sater wrote in a 2015 email.\nFor years, the only bank that would lend to Trump's property empire was Deutsche Bank, which was later\nfined record sums\nfor laundering Russian money. It's likely the Russian authorities were aware of all this. But, as his defenders point out, Russian investors weren't unusual in the New York property world at that time. One former partner said: \"The only people who were willing to [invest] were tasteless Russians, people who like the absurd, ostentatious gold-leaf lifestyle he has.\"\nWhy is Trump so pro-Putin?\nOn a personal level, he likes Putin and he dislikes\nZelenskyy\n. \"Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,\" Trump said during the Oval Office confrontation. This was a reference to Mueller's report into\nRussian interference in the 2016 election\n(such as the hacking and leaking of Democratic emails) – a probe Trump always portrays as a \"witch hunt\" by his political opponents. When Trump met Putin in Helsinki in 2018, Putin denied Russian involvement. Trump broke with US intelligence's conclusion that the Russians had interfered in the election by accepting this at face value; he has long held the unfounded belief that it was Ukraine doing the interference.\nAnother sore point is his first impeachment in 2019, which was triggered by the revelation that he had\nwithheld arms from Ukraine\nin an effort to pressure Zelenskyy into investigating\nJoe Biden\nand his son Hunter's business dealings in the country. (Zelenskyy resisted.) Because of this, Trump sees Ukraine, broadly, as a corrupt nation in league with his political enemies.\nWhat other reasons does he have for supporting Putin?\nMaga is premised on America First isolationism, which often tips over into support for Russia. Trump despises Biden and his policies, including support for Ukraine. But beyond that, Trump and Putin have much in common politically: both dislike the\nliberal international order\nbecause it limits their power; both, for different reasons, dislike\nNato\n. Trump openly admires\nstrongmen such as Putin\n; he has shown a Putin-style desire to \"manage\" elections. Finally, he is famously transactional, and feels that Russia has a great deal more to offer him and America than Ukraine.\nSo what really is going on?\nThere's no evidence Trump is a Russian asset; but he clearly has a certain regard for Putin and Russia. He was echoing Russian propaganda long before he\ncalled Zelenskyy a dictator\nor claimed he started the war. In 2018, Trump defended\nRussia's takeover of Crimea\n. In 2022, he called the invasion of Ukraine \"genius\".\n\"I cannot believe he is a Russian agent, but he sure plays one on TV,\" said Thomas L. Friedman in\nThe New York Times\n. His loyalties will be tested in the coming weeks.","attrs_markdown":"![](https:\/\/sb.scorecardresearch.com\/p\/?c1=2&c2=10055482&cv=4.4.0&cj=1)\n\n[![The Week](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/flexiimages\/qsgislpohy1687441729.svg) The Week](https:\/\/theweek.com\/)\n\nUS Edition\n\n![flag of US](https:\/\/vanilla.futurecdn.net\/theweek\/media\/shared\/img\/flags\/nosize\/US.svg)\n\n[![flag of US](https:\/\/vanilla.futurecdn.net\/theweek\/media\/shared\/img\/flags\/nosize\/US.svg) US](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/is-donald-trump-a-russian-agent)\n\n[![flag of UK](https:\/\/vanilla.futurecdn.net\/theweek\/media\/shared\/img\/flags\/nosize\/GB.svg) UK](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/is-donald-trump-a-russian-agent)\n\n[![https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/flexiimages\/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/flexiimages\/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg) SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Less than \\$3 per 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[Home](https:\/\/theweek.com\/)\n2. [Politics](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics)\n\n[the explainer](https:\/\/theweek.com\/the-explainer)\n# Is Donald Trump a Russian agent?\n'We have to consider the possibility that President Trump is a Russian asset' former Tory minister Graham Stuart tweeted last week. Do we?\n\nBy [The Week UK](https:\/\/theweek.com\/author\/the-week-uk)\n\npublished\n\nMarch 15, 2025\n\n![In silhouette, Donald Trump (R) walks with Russia\\&\\#039;s President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in Osaka in 2019](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/zY68EEYsGMcnXT2h4L7ZUN.jpg)\n\nDonald Trump (R) and Vladimir Putin walking together at the 2019 G20 Summit in Osaka\n\n(Image credit: Brendan Smialowski \/ AFPGetty Images)\n\nShare\n\n- Copy link\n- [Facebook](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Fpolitics%2Fis-donald-trump-a-russian-agent)\n- [X](https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=Is+Donald+Trump+a+Russian+agent%3F&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Fpolitics%2Fis-donald-trump-a-russian-agent)\n- [Linkedin](https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Fpolitics%2Fis-donald-trump-a-russian-agent&title=Is+Donald+Trump+a+Russian+agent%3F&source=theweek.com)\n- [Whatsapp](whatsapp:\/\/send?text=Is+Donald+Trump+a+Russian+agent%3F+https%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Fpolitics%2Fis-donald-trump-a-russian-agent?fwa)\n- [Pinterest](https:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Fpolitics%2Fis-donald-trump-a-russian-agent&media=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net%2FzY68EEYsGMcnXT2h4L7ZUN.jpg)\n\nShare this article\n\nJoin the conversation\n\n[Follow us](https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=theweek.com)\n\nAdd us as a preferred source on Google\n\nNewsletter\n\nSign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox\n\nA free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com\n\n***\nBy signing up, you agree to our [Terms of services](https:\\\/\\\/futureplc.com\\\/terms-conditions\\\/)  and acknowledge that you have read our [Privacy Notice](https:\\\/\\\/futureplc.com\\\/privacy-policy\\\/). You also agree to receive marketing emails from us that may include promotions from our trusted partners and sponsors, which you can unsubscribe from at any time.\n\nYou are now subscribed\n\nYour newsletter sign-up was successful\n\n***\nAn account already exists for this email address, please log in.\n\nSubscribe to our newsletter\n\n[Donald Trump](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/donald-trump)'s policies have been unprecedentedly pro-Russian.\n\nUntil this week, when the US pressed the Kremlin to commit to a ceasefire, the Trump administration had apparently asked for nothing from President [Putin](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/vladimir-putin), while making a series of unilateral concessions on behalf of the Ukrainians: ruling out [Nato membership for Ukraine](https:\/\/theweek.com\/russo-ukrainian-war\/1024903\/should-ukraine-be-admitted-to-nato), demanding that they make territorial concessions, voting in Russia's favour at the UN over the invasion, [resuming diplomatic relations with Moscow](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/trump-changing-us-russia-relationship). In his confrontation with [President Zelenskyy](https:\/\/theweek.com\/volodymyr-zelenskyy) last month, Trump took offence at what he called Zelenskyy's \"tremendous hatred\" for President Putin.\n\nAs a result of all this, and bolstered by long-standing rumours, many – including Tory MP Graham Stuart, [Democrat](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/democrats) senator Jeff Merkley and retired US intelligence officers – have asked whether Trump is a Russian \"asset\".\n\nArticle continues below\n\nYou may like\n\n- [![Photo composite illustration of US-UK politicians including FDR, Churchill, Regan, Thatcher, Obama, Cameron, Trump and Starmer](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/ptAdNRaj89Nczc8B7Kw8NX.jpg) Is the UK-US special relationship over?](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/uk-us-special-relationship-over-trump-starmer)\n- [![Tahnoon and Trump: In business](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/XVasNDEm33gF2enPkwgC6T.jpg) Corruption: The spy sheikh and the president](https:\/\/theweek.com\/world-news\/spy-sheikh-trump-corruption)\n- [![Vladimir Putin sitting at a table in front of a Russian flag](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/ruECZGtVUTJ2DHktV8uMER.jpg) The Iran war: a gift to Vladimir Putin?](https:\/\/theweek.com\/world-news\/iran-war-russia-vladimir-putin)\n\n## The Week\nEscape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.\n\n[SUBSCRIBE & SAVE](https:\/\/subscribe.theweek.com\/servlet\/OrdersGateway?cds_mag_code=TWE&cds_page_id=275740&cds_response_key=I4BRBKSW1&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=theweek.com&utm_campaign=wku-all-digital_referral-202401-sub-none-fbk24&utm_content=us-in-article)\n\n![https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/flexiimages\/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/flexiimages\/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg)\n\n## Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters\nFrom our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.\n\nFrom our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.\n\n[Sign up](https:\/\/theweek.com\/newsletters)\n\nLatest Videos From The Week\n\n## What sort of rumours?\nThe most recent, in February, was spread by Alnur Mussayev, a former KGB officer from Kazakhstan. He said on Facebook that Trump was signed up in Moscow in 1987 under the codename \"Krasnov\". Trump visited Moscow that year, and he would have been under KGB surveillance. There have also been claims from Czech defectors that Czechoslovakian intelligence mounted an extensive [spying](https:\/\/theweek.com\/culture-life\/tv-radio\/the-best-tv-spy-thrillers) operation on Trump, together with \"friends\" from the KGB, after he married a Czech model, Ivana Zelníková, in 1977.\n\nThe evidence for the first claim looks flimsy: Mussayev was not employed by the KGB in 1987, and never worked for the section of the organisation that recruited foreign spies. And there is certainly no evidence that either operation recruited Trump.\n\n## What other rumours are there?\nThe best-known were compiled in a [dossier by Christopher Steele](https:\/\/theweek.com\/89760\/the-five-most-interesting-claims-in-the-donald-trump-dossier), a former head of MI6's [Russia](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/russia) desk, who did research into Trump for Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016. Steele was sufficiently alarmed that he took his findings to US intelligence. He found that the Russian government was \"working to get Mr Trump elected\" in that year's presidential election, and that his associates had met Russian agents, possibly to conspire with them.\n\nThe first two claims were later verified by the US special counsel [Robert Mueller's report](https:\/\/theweek.com\/106062\/what-is-in-the-unredacted-mueller-report) – but it did not prove a criminal conspiracy. Steele also recorded a series of \"unverified and potentially unverifiable\" claims. The most lurid was that the FSB (formerly the KGB) has footage of Trump engaging in depraved activities with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel in 2013, which it uses as [kompromat](https:\/\/theweek.com\/speedreads\/672515\/putin-spokesman-denies-reports-that-kremlin-collected-compromising-information-donald-trump): blackmail material. There is no proof of this. Trump does, though, have a long financial relationship with Russia.\n\nSign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox\n\nA free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com\n\nBy signing up, you agree to our [Terms of services](https:\\\/\\\/futureplc.com\\\/terms-conditions\\\/)  and acknowledge that you have read our [Privacy Notice](https:\\\/\\\/futureplc.com\\\/privacy-policy\\\/). You also agree to receive marketing emails from us that may include promotions from our trusted partners and sponsors, which you can unsubscribe from at any time.\n## What financial relationship?\nTrump tried to expand his property empire into Russia, with little success. But Russian money saved his floundering businesses in the 1990s, when bankruptcies had made him toxic to US lenders. A Russian-American mobster named Felix Sater poured cash into Trump's businesses. \"Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this,\" Sater wrote in a 2015 email.\n\nFor years, the only bank that would lend to Trump's property empire was Deutsche Bank, which was later [fined record sums](https:\/\/theweek.com\/77087\/deutsche-bank-fined-500m-over-russian-transfers) for laundering Russian money. It's likely the Russian authorities were aware of all this. But, as his defenders point out, Russian investors weren't unusual in the New York property world at that time. One former partner said: \"The only people who were willing to \\[invest\\] were tasteless Russians, people who like the absurd, ostentatious gold-leaf lifestyle he has.\"\n\n## Why is Trump so pro-Putin?\nOn a personal level, he likes Putin and he dislikes [Zelenskyy](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/volodymyr-zelenskyy). \"Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,\" Trump said during the Oval Office confrontation. This was a reference to Mueller's report into [Russian interference in the 2016 election](https:\/\/theweek.com\/speedreads\/910113\/gopled-senate-intelligence-committee-agrees-russia-tried-interfere-2016-election-trumps-behalf) (such as the hacking and leaking of Democratic emails) – a probe Trump always portrays as a \"witch hunt\" by his political opponents. When Trump met Putin in Helsinki in 2018, Putin denied Russian involvement. Trump broke with US intelligence's conclusion that the Russians had interfered in the election by accepting this at face value; he has long held the unfounded belief that it was Ukraine doing the interference.\n\nWhat to read next\n\n- [![Trump looking confused](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/tzieYrojSRDdSxzQ7bn8S5.jpg) The ‘mad king’: has Trump finally lost it?](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/the-mad-king-has-trump-finally-lost-it)\n- [![Pop art-style illustration of Donald Trump composited with King Kong](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/bU5B3yoomapjFk2AR9ZaQj.jpg) Can anyone stop Donald Trump?](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/can-anyone-stop-donald-trump)\n- [![Photo collage of Donald Trump sitting on a scales, outweighing a huge pile of money](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/wTpUsmJvkYmnsYm4cJSikQ.jpg) What is Donald Trump's net worth?](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/donald-trump-net-worth)\n\nAnother sore point is his first impeachment in 2019, which was triggered by the revelation that he had [withheld arms from Ukraine](https:\/\/theweek.com\/speedreads\/866879\/how-reports-trump-pushing-ukraines-president-investigate-hunter-biden-could-hurt-joe-bidens-campaign) in an effort to pressure Zelenskyy into investigating [Joe Biden](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/joe-biden) and his son Hunter's business dealings in the country. (Zelenskyy resisted.) Because of this, Trump sees Ukraine, broadly, as a corrupt nation in league with his political enemies.\n\n## What other reasons does he have for supporting Putin?\nMaga is premised on America First isolationism, which often tips over into support for Russia. Trump despises Biden and his policies, including support for Ukraine. But beyond that, Trump and Putin have much in common politically: both dislike the [liberal international order](https:\/\/theweek.com\/world-news\/justin-trudeau-is-the-wests-liberal-establishment-crumbling) because it limits their power; both, for different reasons, dislike [Nato](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/nato). Trump openly admires [strongmen such as Putin](https:\/\/theweek.com\/news\/world-news\/russia\/956195\/vladimir-putins-height); he has shown a Putin-style desire to \"manage\" elections. Finally, he is famously transactional, and feels that Russia has a great deal more to offer him and America than Ukraine.\n\n## So what really is going on?\nThere's no evidence Trump is a Russian asset; but he clearly has a certain regard for Putin and Russia. He was echoing Russian propaganda long before he [called Zelenskyy a dictator](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/trump-ukraine-zelenskyy-dictator-russia-republican-hawks) or claimed he started the war. In 2018, Trump defended [Russia's takeover of Crimea](https:\/\/theweek.com\/news\/world-news\/russia\/956112\/a-timeline-of-crimeas-annexation). In 2022, he called the invasion of Ukraine \"genius\".\n\n\"I cannot believe he is a Russian agent, but he sure plays one on TV,\" said Thomas L. Friedman in [The New York Times](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/28\/opinion\/trump-zelensky.html). His loyalties will be tested in the coming weeks.\n\nExplore More\n\n[Donald Trump](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/donald-trump)   [Russia](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/russia)   [Vladimir Putin](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/vladimir-putin)   [From the magazine](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/from-the-magazine)\n\n[The Week UK](https:\/\/theweek.com\/author\/the-week-uk)\n\nSocial Links Navigation\n\nRead more\n\n[![Photo composite illustration of US-UK politicians including FDR, Churchill, Regan, Thatcher, Obama, Cameron, Trump and Starmer](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/ptAdNRaj89Nczc8B7Kw8NX.jpg) Politics Is the UK-US special relationship over?](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/uk-us-special-relationship-over-trump-starmer \"Is the UK-US special relationship over?\")\n\n[![Tahnoon and Trump: In business](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/XVasNDEm33gF2enPkwgC6T.jpg) World News Corruption: The spy sheikh and the president](https:\/\/theweek.com\/world-news\/spy-sheikh-trump-corruption \"Corruption: The spy sheikh and the president\")\n\n[![Vladimir Putin sitting at a table in front of a Russian flag](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/ruECZGtVUTJ2DHktV8uMER.jpg) World News The Iran war: a gift to Vladimir Putin?](https:\/\/theweek.com\/world-news\/iran-war-russia-vladimir-putin \"The Iran war: a gift to Vladimir Putin?\")\n\n[![Trump looking confused](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/tzieYrojSRDdSxzQ7bn8S5.jpg) Politics The ‘mad king’: has Trump finally lost it?](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/the-mad-king-has-trump-finally-lost-it \"The ‘mad king’: has Trump finally lost it?\")\n\nLatest in Politics\n\n[![Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes attends House hearing](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/6guAsraAQkFuBeMCmJRDWA.jpg) Politics DOJ moves to wipe Jan. 6 sedition convictions](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/doj-wipes-jan-6-sedition-convictions \"DOJ moves to wipe Jan. 6 sedition convictions\")\n\n[![PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - JUNE 14: U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin speaks as people protest in Philadelphia as part of the No Kings Rallies at Love Park on June 14, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Lisa Lake\/Getty Images for No Kings)](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/HdPkATonh9MZZRebRyqARC.jpg) Politics Dems file 25th Amendment bill amid Trump outbursts](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/dems-file-25th-amendment-trump \"Dems file 25th Amendment bill amid Trump outbursts\")\n\n[![The Kellogg’s manufacturing plant in Battle Creek, Michigan. ](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/Z7TYcYnbPtCSLN9ep6Y79b.jpg) Politics ‘Battle Creek’s people needed to reinvent themselves’](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/instant-opinion-battle-creek-university-pregnancy-vance \"‘Battle Creek’s people needed to reinvent themselves’\")\n\n[![Illustration of a Democrat donkey covered with price stickers and holding a price tag](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/X7RAbjyHPXnEWimJ2gbtMh.jpg) Politics The main issues Democratic candidates will focus on in 2028](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/main-issues-democrat-candidates-2028 \"The main issues Democratic candidates will focus on in 2028\")\n\nLatest in The explainer\n\n[![Woman interacting with a holographic screen, selecting an online subscription plan](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/ZCFRDNss6udXiSVr83tgiE.jpg) Personal Finance 4 tips to save on your subscriptions](https:\/\/theweek.com\/personal-finance\/save-on-subscriptions \"4 tips to save on your subscriptions\n\n\")\n\n[![UK soldier](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/zG5raftTW3n6LR6mXPHpX7.jpg) Defence Why the UK is not ready for war](https:\/\/theweek.com\/defence\/defence-spending-uk-ready-for-war \"Why the UK is not ready for war\")\n\n[![Illustration of a Democrat donkey covered with price stickers and holding a price tag](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/X7RAbjyHPXnEWimJ2gbtMh.jpg) Politics The main issues Democratic candidates will focus on in 2028](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/main-issues-democrat-candidates-2028 \"The main issues Democratic candidates will focus on in 2028\")\n\n[![Close-up on a man paying by credit card at a gas station](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/86MKHENEq2AjXGiBJAmnqg.jpg) Personal Finance Can the right credit card help with rising gas prices?](https:\/\/theweek.com\/personal-finance\/gas-rewards-credit-card-savings \"Can the right credit card help with rising gas prices?\n\n\")\n\n- [About Us](https:\/\/theweek.com\/about-us)\n- [Contact Future's experts](https:\/\/futureplc.com\/contact\/)\n- [Terms and Conditions](https:\/\/futureplc.com\/terms-conditions\/)\n- [Privacy Policy](https:\/\/futureplc.com\/privacy-policy\/)\n- [Cookie Policy](https:\/\/futureplc.com\/cookies-policy\/)\n- [Advertise With Us](https:\/\/go.future-advertising.com\/The-Week-Media-Kit.html)\n- [FAQ](https:\/\/theweek.com\/faq)\n- [Do not sell or share my personal information](https:\/\/theweek.com\/privacy-portal)\n\n[![Add as a preferred source on Google](https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/flexiimages\/mednnv697g1760357120.png) Add as a preferred source on Google](https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=theweek.com)\n\nThe Week is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. [Visit our corporate site](https:\/\/futureplc.com\/).\n\n© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.","attrs_readable_markdown":"[Donald Trump](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/donald-trump)'s policies have been unprecedentedly pro-Russian.\n\nUntil this week, when the US pressed the Kremlin to commit to a ceasefire, the Trump administration had apparently asked for nothing from President [Putin](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/vladimir-putin), while making a series of unilateral concessions on behalf of the Ukrainians: ruling out [Nato membership for Ukraine](https:\/\/theweek.com\/russo-ukrainian-war\/1024903\/should-ukraine-be-admitted-to-nato), demanding that they make territorial concessions, voting in Russia's favour at the UN over the invasion, [resuming diplomatic relations with Moscow](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/trump-changing-us-russia-relationship). In his confrontation with [President Zelenskyy](https:\/\/theweek.com\/volodymyr-zelenskyy) last month, Trump took offence at what he called Zelenskyy's \"tremendous hatred\" for President Putin.\n\nArticle continues below\n\n## The Week\nEscape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.\n\n[SUBSCRIBE & SAVE](https:\/\/subscribe.theweek.com\/servlet\/OrdersGateway?cds_mag_code=TWE&cds_page_id=275740&cds_response_key=I4BRBKSW1&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=theweek.com&utm_campaign=wku-all-digital_referral-202401-sub-none-fbk24&utm_content=us-in-article)\n\n## Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters\nFrom our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.\n\nFrom our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.\n\nLatest Videos From The Week\n\n## What sort of rumours?\nThe most recent, in February, was spread by Alnur Mussayev, a former KGB officer from Kazakhstan. He said on Facebook that Trump was signed up in Moscow in 1987 under the codename \"Krasnov\". Trump visited Moscow that year, and he would have been under KGB surveillance. There have also been claims from Czech defectors that Czechoslovakian intelligence mounted an extensive [spying](https:\/\/theweek.com\/culture-life\/tv-radio\/the-best-tv-spy-thrillers) operation on Trump, together with \"friends\" from the KGB, after he married a Czech model, Ivana Zelníková, in 1977.\n\nThe evidence for the first claim looks flimsy: Mussayev was not employed by the KGB in 1987, and never worked for the section of the organisation that recruited foreign spies. And there is certainly no evidence that either operation recruited Trump.\n\n## What other rumours are there?\nThe best-known were compiled in a [dossier by Christopher Steele](https:\/\/theweek.com\/89760\/the-five-most-interesting-claims-in-the-donald-trump-dossier), a former head of MI6's [Russia](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/russia) desk, who did research into Trump for Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016. Steele was sufficiently alarmed that he took his findings to US intelligence. He found that the Russian government was \"working to get Mr Trump elected\" in that year's presidential election, and that his associates had met Russian agents, possibly to conspire with them.\n\nThe first two claims were later verified by the US special counsel [Robert Mueller's report](https:\/\/theweek.com\/106062\/what-is-in-the-unredacted-mueller-report) – but it did not prove a criminal conspiracy. Steele also recorded a series of \"unverified and potentially unverifiable\" claims. The most lurid was that the FSB (formerly the KGB) has footage of Trump engaging in depraved activities with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel in 2013, which it uses as [kompromat](https:\/\/theweek.com\/speedreads\/672515\/putin-spokesman-denies-reports-that-kremlin-collected-compromising-information-donald-trump): blackmail material. There is no proof of this. Trump does, though, have a long financial relationship with Russia.\n\nA free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com\n\n## What financial relationship?\nTrump tried to expand his property empire into Russia, with little success. But Russian money saved his floundering businesses in the 1990s, when bankruptcies had made him toxic to US lenders. A Russian-American mobster named Felix Sater poured cash into Trump's businesses. \"Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this,\" Sater wrote in a 2015 email.\n\nFor years, the only bank that would lend to Trump's property empire was Deutsche Bank, which was later [fined record sums](https:\/\/theweek.com\/77087\/deutsche-bank-fined-500m-over-russian-transfers) for laundering Russian money. It's likely the Russian authorities were aware of all this. But, as his defenders point out, Russian investors weren't unusual in the New York property world at that time. One former partner said: \"The only people who were willing to \\[invest\\] were tasteless Russians, people who like the absurd, ostentatious gold-leaf lifestyle he has.\"\n\n## Why is Trump so pro-Putin?\nOn a personal level, he likes Putin and he dislikes [Zelenskyy](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/volodymyr-zelenskyy). \"Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,\" Trump said during the Oval Office confrontation. This was a reference to Mueller's report into [Russian interference in the 2016 election](https:\/\/theweek.com\/speedreads\/910113\/gopled-senate-intelligence-committee-agrees-russia-tried-interfere-2016-election-trumps-behalf) (such as the hacking and leaking of Democratic emails) – a probe Trump always portrays as a \"witch hunt\" by his political opponents. When Trump met Putin in Helsinki in 2018, Putin denied Russian involvement. Trump broke with US intelligence's conclusion that the Russians had interfered in the election by accepting this at face value; he has long held the unfounded belief that it was Ukraine doing the interference.\n\nAnother sore point is his first impeachment in 2019, which was triggered by the revelation that he had [withheld arms from Ukraine](https:\/\/theweek.com\/speedreads\/866879\/how-reports-trump-pushing-ukraines-president-investigate-hunter-biden-could-hurt-joe-bidens-campaign) in an effort to pressure Zelenskyy into investigating [Joe Biden](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/joe-biden) and his son Hunter's business dealings in the country. (Zelenskyy resisted.) Because of this, Trump sees Ukraine, broadly, as a corrupt nation in league with his political enemies.\n\n## What other reasons does he have for supporting Putin?\nMaga is premised on America First isolationism, which often tips over into support for Russia. Trump despises Biden and his policies, including support for Ukraine. But beyond that, Trump and Putin have much in common politically: both dislike the [liberal international order](https:\/\/theweek.com\/world-news\/justin-trudeau-is-the-wests-liberal-establishment-crumbling) because it limits their power; both, for different reasons, dislike [Nato](https:\/\/theweek.com\/tag\/nato). Trump openly admires [strongmen such as Putin](https:\/\/theweek.com\/news\/world-news\/russia\/956195\/vladimir-putins-height); he has shown a Putin-style desire to \"manage\" elections. Finally, he is famously transactional, and feels that Russia has a great deal more to offer him and America than Ukraine.\n\n## So what really is going on?\nThere's no evidence Trump is a Russian asset; but he clearly has a certain regard for Putin and Russia. He was echoing Russian propaganda long before he [called Zelenskyy a dictator](https:\/\/theweek.com\/politics\/trump-ukraine-zelenskyy-dictator-russia-republican-hawks) or claimed he started the war. In 2018, Trump defended [Russia's takeover of Crimea](https:\/\/theweek.com\/news\/world-news\/russia\/956112\/a-timeline-of-crimeas-annexation). In 2022, he called the invasion of Ukraine \"genius\".\n\n\"I cannot believe he is a Russian agent, but he sure plays one on TV,\" said Thomas L. Friedman in [The New York Times](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/28\/opinion\/trump-zelensky.html). 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Is Donald Trump a Russian agent? | The Week

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'We have to consider the possibility that President Trump is a Russian asset' former Tory minister Graham Stuart tweeted last week. Do we?

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Donald Trump 's policies have been unprecedentedly pro-Russian. Until this week, when the US pressed the Kremlin to commit to a ceasefire, the Trump administration had apparently asked for nothing from President Putin , while making a series of unilateral concessions on behalf of the Ukrainians: ruling out Nato membership for Ukraine , demanding that they make territorial concessions, voting in Russia's favour at the UN over the invasion, resuming diplomatic relations with Moscow . In his confrontation with President Zelenskyy last month, Trump took offence at what he called Zelenskyy's "tremendous hatred" for President Putin. Article continues below The Week Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Latest Videos From The Week What sort of rumours? The most recent, in February, was spread by Alnur Mussayev, a former KGB officer from Kazakhstan. He said on Facebook that Trump was signed up in Moscow in 1987 under the codename "Krasnov". Trump visited Moscow that year, and he would have been under KGB surveillance. There have also been claims from Czech defectors that Czechoslovakian intelligence mounted an extensive spying operation on Trump, together with "friends" from the KGB, after he married a Czech model, Ivana Zelníková, in 1977. The evidence for the first claim looks flimsy: Mussayev was not employed by the KGB in 1987, and never worked for the section of the organisation that recruited foreign spies. And there is certainly no evidence that either operation recruited Trump. What other rumours are there? The best-known were compiled in a dossier by Christopher Steele , a former head of MI6's Russia desk, who did research into Trump for Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016. Steele was sufficiently alarmed that he took his findings to US intelligence. He found that the Russian government was "working to get Mr Trump elected" in that year's presidential election, and that his associates had met Russian agents, possibly to conspire with them. The first two claims were later verified by the US special counsel Robert Mueller's report – but it did not prove a criminal conspiracy. Steele also recorded a series of "unverified and potentially unverifiable" claims. The most lurid was that the FSB (formerly the KGB) has footage of Trump engaging in depraved activities with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel in 2013, which it uses as kompromat : blackmail material. There is no proof of this. Trump does, though, have a long financial relationship with Russia. A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com What financial relationship? Trump tried to expand his property empire into Russia, with little success. But Russian money saved his floundering businesses in the 1990s, when bankruptcies had made him toxic to US lenders. A Russian-American mobster named Felix Sater poured cash into Trump's businesses. "Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this," Sater wrote in a 2015 email. For years, the only bank that would lend to Trump's property empire was Deutsche Bank, which was later fined record sums for laundering Russian money. It's likely the Russian authorities were aware of all this. But, as his defenders point out, Russian investors weren't unusual in the New York property world at that time. One former partner said: "The only people who were willing to [invest] were tasteless Russians, people who like the absurd, ostentatious gold-leaf lifestyle he has." Why is Trump so pro-Putin? On a personal level, he likes Putin and he dislikes Zelenskyy . "Putin went through a hell of a lot with me," Trump said during the Oval Office confrontation. This was a reference to Mueller's report into Russian interference in the 2016 election (such as the hacking and leaking of Democratic emails) – a probe Trump always portrays as a "witch hunt" by his political opponents. When Trump met Putin in Helsinki in 2018, Putin denied Russian involvement. Trump broke with US intelligence's conclusion that the Russians had interfered in the election by accepting this at face value; he has long held the unfounded belief that it was Ukraine doing the interference. Another sore point is his first impeachment in 2019, which was triggered by the revelation that he had withheld arms from Ukraine in an effort to pressure Zelenskyy into investigating Joe Biden and his son Hunter's business dealings in the country. (Zelenskyy resisted.) Because of this, Trump sees Ukraine, broadly, as a corrupt nation in league with his political enemies. What other reasons does he have for supporting Putin? Maga is premised on America First isolationism, which often tips over into support for Russia. Trump despises Biden and his policies, including support for Ukraine. But beyond that, Trump and Putin have much in common politically: both dislike the liberal international order because it limits their power; both, for different reasons, dislike Nato . Trump openly admires strongmen such as Putin ; he has shown a Putin-style desire to "manage" elections. Finally, he is famously transactional, and feels that Russia has a great deal more to offer him and America than Ukraine. So what really is going on? There's no evidence Trump is a Russian asset; but he clearly has a certain regard for Putin and Russia. He was echoing Russian propaganda long before he called Zelenskyy a dictator or claimed he started the war. In 2018, Trump defended Russia's takeover of Crimea . In 2022, he called the invasion of Ukraine "genius". "I cannot believe he is a Russian agent, but he sure plays one on TV," said Thomas L. Friedman in The New York Times . His loyalties will be tested in the coming weeks.

Markdown

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[Politics](https://theweek.com/politics) [the explainer](https://theweek.com/the-explainer) # Is Donald Trump a Russian agent? 'We have to consider the possibility that President Trump is a Russian asset' former Tory minister Graham Stuart tweeted last week. Do we? By [The Week UK](https://theweek.com/author/the-week-uk) published March 15, 2025 ![In silhouette, Donald Trump (R) walks with Russia\&\#039;s President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in Osaka in 2019](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zY68EEYsGMcnXT2h4L7ZUN.jpg) Donald Trump (R) and Vladimir Putin walking together at the 2019 G20 Summit in Osaka (Image credit: Brendan Smialowski / AFPGetty Images) Share - Copy link - [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Fpolitics%2Fis-donald-trump-a-russian-agent) - [X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Is+Donald+Trump+a+Russian+agent%3F&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Fpolitics%2Fis-donald-trump-a-russian-agent) - [Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Fpolitics%2Fis-donald-trump-a-russian-agent&title=Is+Donald+Trump+a+Russian+agent%3F&source=theweek.com) - [Whatsapp](whatsapp://send?text=Is+Donald+Trump+a+Russian+agent%3F+https%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Fpolitics%2Fis-donald-trump-a-russian-agent?fwa) - [Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheweek.com%2Fpolitics%2Fis-donald-trump-a-russian-agent&media=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net%2FzY68EEYsGMcnXT2h4L7ZUN.jpg) Share this article Join the conversation [Follow us](https://google.com/preferences/source?q=theweek.com) Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com *** By signing up, you agree to our [Terms of services](https:\/\/futureplc.com\/terms-conditions\/) and acknowledge that you have read our [Privacy Notice](https:\/\/futureplc.com\/privacy-policy\/). You also agree to receive marketing emails from us that may include promotions from our trusted partners and sponsors, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful *** An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter [Donald Trump](https://theweek.com/tag/donald-trump)'s policies have been unprecedentedly pro-Russian. Until this week, when the US pressed the Kremlin to commit to a ceasefire, the Trump administration had apparently asked for nothing from President [Putin](https://theweek.com/tag/vladimir-putin), while making a series of unilateral concessions on behalf of the Ukrainians: ruling out [Nato membership for Ukraine](https://theweek.com/russo-ukrainian-war/1024903/should-ukraine-be-admitted-to-nato), demanding that they make territorial concessions, voting in Russia's favour at the UN over the invasion, [resuming diplomatic relations with Moscow](https://theweek.com/politics/trump-changing-us-russia-relationship). In his confrontation with [President Zelenskyy](https://theweek.com/volodymyr-zelenskyy) last month, Trump took offence at what he called Zelenskyy's "tremendous hatred" for President Putin. As a result of all this, and bolstered by long-standing rumours, many – including Tory MP Graham Stuart, [Democrat](https://theweek.com/tag/democrats) senator Jeff Merkley and retired US intelligence officers – have asked whether Trump is a Russian "asset". Article continues below You may like - [![Photo composite illustration of US-UK politicians including FDR, Churchill, Regan, Thatcher, Obama, Cameron, Trump and Starmer](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ptAdNRaj89Nczc8B7Kw8NX.jpg) Is the UK-US special relationship over?](https://theweek.com/politics/uk-us-special-relationship-over-trump-starmer) - [![Tahnoon and Trump: In business](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XVasNDEm33gF2enPkwgC6T.jpg) Corruption: The spy sheikh and the president](https://theweek.com/world-news/spy-sheikh-trump-corruption) - [![Vladimir Putin sitting at a table in front of a Russian flag](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ruECZGtVUTJ2DHktV8uMER.jpg) The Iran war: a gift to Vladimir Putin?](https://theweek.com/world-news/iran-war-russia-vladimir-putin) ## The Week Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. [SUBSCRIBE & SAVE](https://subscribe.theweek.com/servlet/OrdersGateway?cds_mag_code=TWE&cds_page_id=275740&cds_response_key=I4BRBKSW1&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=theweek.com&utm_campaign=wku-all-digital_referral-202401-sub-none-fbk24&utm_content=us-in-article) ![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg) ## Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. [Sign up](https://theweek.com/newsletters) Latest Videos From The Week ## What sort of rumours? The most recent, in February, was spread by Alnur Mussayev, a former KGB officer from Kazakhstan. He said on Facebook that Trump was signed up in Moscow in 1987 under the codename "Krasnov". Trump visited Moscow that year, and he would have been under KGB surveillance. There have also been claims from Czech defectors that Czechoslovakian intelligence mounted an extensive [spying](https://theweek.com/culture-life/tv-radio/the-best-tv-spy-thrillers) operation on Trump, together with "friends" from the KGB, after he married a Czech model, Ivana Zelníková, in 1977. The evidence for the first claim looks flimsy: Mussayev was not employed by the KGB in 1987, and never worked for the section of the organisation that recruited foreign spies. And there is certainly no evidence that either operation recruited Trump. ## What other rumours are there? The best-known were compiled in a [dossier by Christopher Steele](https://theweek.com/89760/the-five-most-interesting-claims-in-the-donald-trump-dossier), a former head of MI6's [Russia](https://theweek.com/tag/russia) desk, who did research into Trump for Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016. Steele was sufficiently alarmed that he took his findings to US intelligence. He found that the Russian government was "working to get Mr Trump elected" in that year's presidential election, and that his associates had met Russian agents, possibly to conspire with them. The first two claims were later verified by the US special counsel [Robert Mueller's report](https://theweek.com/106062/what-is-in-the-unredacted-mueller-report) – but it did not prove a criminal conspiracy. Steele also recorded a series of "unverified and potentially unverifiable" claims. The most lurid was that the FSB (formerly the KGB) has footage of Trump engaging in depraved activities with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel in 2013, which it uses as [kompromat](https://theweek.com/speedreads/672515/putin-spokesman-denies-reports-that-kremlin-collected-compromising-information-donald-trump): blackmail material. There is no proof of this. Trump does, though, have a long financial relationship with Russia. Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com By signing up, you agree to our [Terms of services](https:\/\/futureplc.com\/terms-conditions\/) and acknowledge that you have read our [Privacy Notice](https:\/\/futureplc.com\/privacy-policy\/). You also agree to receive marketing emails from us that may include promotions from our trusted partners and sponsors, which you can unsubscribe from at any time. ## What financial relationship? Trump tried to expand his property empire into Russia, with little success. But Russian money saved his floundering businesses in the 1990s, when bankruptcies had made him toxic to US lenders. A Russian-American mobster named Felix Sater poured cash into Trump's businesses. "Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this," Sater wrote in a 2015 email. For years, the only bank that would lend to Trump's property empire was Deutsche Bank, which was later [fined record sums](https://theweek.com/77087/deutsche-bank-fined-500m-over-russian-transfers) for laundering Russian money. It's likely the Russian authorities were aware of all this. But, as his defenders point out, Russian investors weren't unusual in the New York property world at that time. One former partner said: "The only people who were willing to \[invest\] were tasteless Russians, people who like the absurd, ostentatious gold-leaf lifestyle he has." ## Why is Trump so pro-Putin? On a personal level, he likes Putin and he dislikes [Zelenskyy](https://theweek.com/tag/volodymyr-zelenskyy). "Putin went through a hell of a lot with me," Trump said during the Oval Office confrontation. This was a reference to Mueller's report into [Russian interference in the 2016 election](https://theweek.com/speedreads/910113/gopled-senate-intelligence-committee-agrees-russia-tried-interfere-2016-election-trumps-behalf) (such as the hacking and leaking of Democratic emails) – a probe Trump always portrays as a "witch hunt" by his political opponents. When Trump met Putin in Helsinki in 2018, Putin denied Russian involvement. Trump broke with US intelligence's conclusion that the Russians had interfered in the election by accepting this at face value; he has long held the unfounded belief that it was Ukraine doing the interference. What to read next - [![Trump looking confused](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tzieYrojSRDdSxzQ7bn8S5.jpg) The ‘mad king’: has Trump finally lost it?](https://theweek.com/politics/the-mad-king-has-trump-finally-lost-it) - [![Pop art-style illustration of Donald Trump composited with King Kong](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/bU5B3yoomapjFk2AR9ZaQj.jpg) Can anyone stop Donald Trump?](https://theweek.com/politics/can-anyone-stop-donald-trump) - [![Photo collage of Donald Trump sitting on a scales, outweighing a huge pile of money](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wTpUsmJvkYmnsYm4cJSikQ.jpg) What is Donald Trump's net worth?](https://theweek.com/politics/donald-trump-net-worth) Another sore point is his first impeachment in 2019, which was triggered by the revelation that he had [withheld arms from Ukraine](https://theweek.com/speedreads/866879/how-reports-trump-pushing-ukraines-president-investigate-hunter-biden-could-hurt-joe-bidens-campaign) in an effort to pressure Zelenskyy into investigating [Joe Biden](https://theweek.com/tag/joe-biden) and his son Hunter's business dealings in the country. (Zelenskyy resisted.) Because of this, Trump sees Ukraine, broadly, as a corrupt nation in league with his political enemies. ## What other reasons does he have for supporting Putin? Maga is premised on America First isolationism, which often tips over into support for Russia. Trump despises Biden and his policies, including support for Ukraine. But beyond that, Trump and Putin have much in common politically: both dislike the [liberal international order](https://theweek.com/world-news/justin-trudeau-is-the-wests-liberal-establishment-crumbling) because it limits their power; both, for different reasons, dislike [Nato](https://theweek.com/tag/nato). Trump openly admires [strongmen such as Putin](https://theweek.com/news/world-news/russia/956195/vladimir-putins-height); he has shown a Putin-style desire to "manage" elections. Finally, he is famously transactional, and feels that Russia has a great deal more to offer him and America than Ukraine. ## So what really is going on? There's no evidence Trump is a Russian asset; but he clearly has a certain regard for Putin and Russia. He was echoing Russian propaganda long before he [called Zelenskyy a dictator](https://theweek.com/politics/trump-ukraine-zelenskyy-dictator-russia-republican-hawks) or claimed he started the war. In 2018, Trump defended [Russia's takeover of Crimea](https://theweek.com/news/world-news/russia/956112/a-timeline-of-crimeas-annexation). In 2022, he called the invasion of Ukraine "genius". "I cannot believe he is a Russian agent, but he sure plays one on TV," said Thomas L. Friedman in [The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/opinion/trump-zelensky.html). His loyalties will be tested in the coming weeks. Explore More [Donald Trump](https://theweek.com/tag/donald-trump) [Russia](https://theweek.com/tag/russia) [Vladimir Putin](https://theweek.com/tag/vladimir-putin) [From the magazine](https://theweek.com/tag/from-the-magazine) [The Week UK](https://theweek.com/author/the-week-uk) Social Links Navigation Read more [![Photo composite illustration of US-UK politicians including FDR, Churchill, Regan, Thatcher, Obama, Cameron, Trump and Starmer](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ptAdNRaj89Nczc8B7Kw8NX.jpg) Politics Is the UK-US special relationship over?](https://theweek.com/politics/uk-us-special-relationship-over-trump-starmer "Is the UK-US special relationship over?") 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[Donald Trump](https://theweek.com/tag/donald-trump)'s policies have been unprecedentedly pro-Russian. Until this week, when the US pressed the Kremlin to commit to a ceasefire, the Trump administration had apparently asked for nothing from President [Putin](https://theweek.com/tag/vladimir-putin), while making a series of unilateral concessions on behalf of the Ukrainians: ruling out [Nato membership for Ukraine](https://theweek.com/russo-ukrainian-war/1024903/should-ukraine-be-admitted-to-nato), demanding that they make territorial concessions, voting in Russia's favour at the UN over the invasion, [resuming diplomatic relations with Moscow](https://theweek.com/politics/trump-changing-us-russia-relationship). In his confrontation with [President Zelenskyy](https://theweek.com/volodymyr-zelenskyy) last month, Trump took offence at what he called Zelenskyy's "tremendous hatred" for President Putin. Article continues below ## The Week Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. [SUBSCRIBE & SAVE](https://subscribe.theweek.com/servlet/OrdersGateway?cds_mag_code=TWE&cds_page_id=275740&cds_response_key=I4BRBKSW1&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=theweek.com&utm_campaign=wku-all-digital_referral-202401-sub-none-fbk24&utm_content=us-in-article) ## Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Latest Videos From The Week ## What sort of rumours? The most recent, in February, was spread by Alnur Mussayev, a former KGB officer from Kazakhstan. He said on Facebook that Trump was signed up in Moscow in 1987 under the codename "Krasnov". Trump visited Moscow that year, and he would have been under KGB surveillance. There have also been claims from Czech defectors that Czechoslovakian intelligence mounted an extensive [spying](https://theweek.com/culture-life/tv-radio/the-best-tv-spy-thrillers) operation on Trump, together with "friends" from the KGB, after he married a Czech model, Ivana Zelníková, in 1977. The evidence for the first claim looks flimsy: Mussayev was not employed by the KGB in 1987, and never worked for the section of the organisation that recruited foreign spies. And there is certainly no evidence that either operation recruited Trump. ## What other rumours are there? The best-known were compiled in a [dossier by Christopher Steele](https://theweek.com/89760/the-five-most-interesting-claims-in-the-donald-trump-dossier), a former head of MI6's [Russia](https://theweek.com/tag/russia) desk, who did research into Trump for Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016. Steele was sufficiently alarmed that he took his findings to US intelligence. He found that the Russian government was "working to get Mr Trump elected" in that year's presidential election, and that his associates had met Russian agents, possibly to conspire with them. The first two claims were later verified by the US special counsel [Robert Mueller's report](https://theweek.com/106062/what-is-in-the-unredacted-mueller-report) – but it did not prove a criminal conspiracy. Steele also recorded a series of "unverified and potentially unverifiable" claims. The most lurid was that the FSB (formerly the KGB) has footage of Trump engaging in depraved activities with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel in 2013, which it uses as [kompromat](https://theweek.com/speedreads/672515/putin-spokesman-denies-reports-that-kremlin-collected-compromising-information-donald-trump): blackmail material. There is no proof of this. Trump does, though, have a long financial relationship with Russia. A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com ## What financial relationship? Trump tried to expand his property empire into Russia, with little success. But Russian money saved his floundering businesses in the 1990s, when bankruptcies had made him toxic to US lenders. A Russian-American mobster named Felix Sater poured cash into Trump's businesses. "Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putin's team to buy in on this," Sater wrote in a 2015 email. For years, the only bank that would lend to Trump's property empire was Deutsche Bank, which was later [fined record sums](https://theweek.com/77087/deutsche-bank-fined-500m-over-russian-transfers) for laundering Russian money. It's likely the Russian authorities were aware of all this. But, as his defenders point out, Russian investors weren't unusual in the New York property world at that time. One former partner said: "The only people who were willing to \[invest\] were tasteless Russians, people who like the absurd, ostentatious gold-leaf lifestyle he has." ## Why is Trump so pro-Putin? On a personal level, he likes Putin and he dislikes [Zelenskyy](https://theweek.com/tag/volodymyr-zelenskyy). "Putin went through a hell of a lot with me," Trump said during the Oval Office confrontation. This was a reference to Mueller's report into [Russian interference in the 2016 election](https://theweek.com/speedreads/910113/gopled-senate-intelligence-committee-agrees-russia-tried-interfere-2016-election-trumps-behalf) (such as the hacking and leaking of Democratic emails) – a probe Trump always portrays as a "witch hunt" by his political opponents. When Trump met Putin in Helsinki in 2018, Putin denied Russian involvement. Trump broke with US intelligence's conclusion that the Russians had interfered in the election by accepting this at face value; he has long held the unfounded belief that it was Ukraine doing the interference. Another sore point is his first impeachment in 2019, which was triggered by the revelation that he had [withheld arms from Ukraine](https://theweek.com/speedreads/866879/how-reports-trump-pushing-ukraines-president-investigate-hunter-biden-could-hurt-joe-bidens-campaign) in an effort to pressure Zelenskyy into investigating [Joe Biden](https://theweek.com/tag/joe-biden) and his son Hunter's business dealings in the country. (Zelenskyy resisted.) Because of this, Trump sees Ukraine, broadly, as a corrupt nation in league with his political enemies. ## What other reasons does he have for supporting Putin? Maga is premised on America First isolationism, which often tips over into support for Russia. Trump despises Biden and his policies, including support for Ukraine. But beyond that, Trump and Putin have much in common politically: both dislike the [liberal international order](https://theweek.com/world-news/justin-trudeau-is-the-wests-liberal-establishment-crumbling) because it limits their power; both, for different reasons, dislike [Nato](https://theweek.com/tag/nato). Trump openly admires [strongmen such as Putin](https://theweek.com/news/world-news/russia/956195/vladimir-putins-height); he has shown a Putin-style desire to "manage" elections. Finally, he is famously transactional, and feels that Russia has a great deal more to offer him and America than Ukraine. ## So what really is going on? There's no evidence Trump is a Russian asset; but he clearly has a certain regard for Putin and Russia. He was echoing Russian propaganda long before he [called Zelenskyy a dictator](https://theweek.com/politics/trump-ukraine-zelenskyy-dictator-russia-republican-hawks) or claimed he started the war. In 2018, Trump defended [Russia's takeover of Crimea](https://theweek.com/news/world-news/russia/956112/a-timeline-of-crimeas-annexation). In 2022, he called the invasion of Ukraine "genius". "I cannot believe he is a Russian agent, but he sure plays one on TV," said Thomas L. Friedman in [The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/opinion/trump-zelensky.html). His loyalties will be tested in the coming weeks.

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