🕷️ Crawler Inspector

URL Lookup

Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 107 (from laksa027)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa107.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 FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/breaking-crosspost-donald-trump-was\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/breaking-crosspost-donald-trump-was\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.bylinesupplement.com\/p\/breaking-crosspost-donald-trump-was","crawl_time":1775906123,"first_indexed_time":1740181466,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,bylinesupplement!www,\/p\/breaking-crosspost-donald-trump-was s443","src_root_hash":"13752992616355285907","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"BREAKING CROSSPOST: Donald Trump Was Recruited by the KGB Under Codename ‘Krasnov’ Claims Former Soviet Spy Chief","meta_descriptions":["Byline Times has crashed due to a DDOS attack and the original story blocked: a former senior KGB chief claims Trump was recruited by them in 1987 due to his role as a prominent US businessman"],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"To support our work,\nsubscribe\nto the monthly Byline Times print edition, packed with exclusive investigations, news, and analysis.\nHelp us build the better media Britain deserves\nA former senior Soviet KGB spy chief has claimed that\nDonald Trump\nwas recruited as a spy by Russian\nintelligence\nas early as 38 years ago by his department, and given the codename ‘Krasnov’.\nRussia’s ‘Committee for State Security’, abbreviated as KGB, was the main security agency of the Soviet Union between 1954 to 1991, responsible for internal security, foreign intelligence, counterintelligence and secret\npolice\nfunctions.\nIn an extraordinary post on Facebook on 20 February, Alnur Mussayev – who\nused to run\nthe successor to the Soviet-era KGB in Kazakhstan – claimed that he was personally aware of Trump’s recruitment by the agency in 1987.\nThe recruitment, he said, was undertaken by his own KGB department. One of the key roles of that department was to acquire intelligence through business leaders in Western countries.\n“In 1987, I served in the 6th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR in Moscow. The most important area of work of the 6th Directorate was the recruitment of businessmen from capitalist countries”, wrote Mussayev in a Russian language post on Facebook.\n“It was that year that our Office recruited 40-year-old businessman from the United States, Donald\nTrump\n, under the pseudonym ‘Krasnov’”.\nHe later added: “In the activity of intelligence agencies, as in life, everything is possible, even the wildest and incredible things.\n“For example, recruitment of future leaders of state and even the President of the United States.”\nMussayev’s most recent senior intelligence position was as head of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee (KNB) under the tenure of President Nursultan Nazarbayev from May 1997 to September 1998. He returned for a second term from August 1999 to May 2001.\nPrior to that, however, he was a long-serving KGB officer.\nIn 2007 he fled the country after accusing the\ngovernment\nof widespread corruption in the form of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from Western oil giants. Exiled to Austria, in 2008 he survived an attempted kidnapping which he attributed to the Kazakhstan government.\nByline Times\ncan confirm based on\narchived Russian newspaper materials\nthat Mussayev first joined active military service in the KGB of the Soviet Union in 1979.\nHe then joined KGB counterintelligence of the Kazakh special services. From 1986 to 1989 – the period in which he said he was aware of Donald Trump’s KGB recruitment – he was seconded to the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR in Moscow, before returning to the KGB.\nThe Russian language sources on Mussayev’s KGB career are unclear on which directorate he was involved in. Although in his Facebook post he said he worked for the 6th Directorate, he has also been described as working in the 8th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. Public information on these directorates and how they worked is sparse.\nThe memoirs of KGB defectors like Oleg Gordievsky, Yuri Bezmenov and Stanislav Levchenko confirm that in this period Western business leaders were frequently the targets of Soviet intelligence. Although the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not typically initiate these operations, these accounts show that it frequently supported or facilitated the KGB’s operatoins by leveraging its domestic authority inside the USSR – particularly in terms of\nsurveillance\n, entrapment, and visa oversight for foreign visitors.\nMussayev’s claims are not the first time that a former senior KGB intelligence officer has publicly claimed that they were aware of Donald Trump’s recruitment to the KGB, but it is the first time that Trump’s alleged Russian codename, ‘Krasnov’, has been identified.\nAccording to\nOleg Kalugin\n, a former KGB general, who served in foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, and during the Soviet era was Vladimir Putin’s direct superior, Trump was on the radar of Soviet and Russian intelligence as early as the 1980s with claims that the KGB had\nkompromat\non him, including reports of his sexual relationships with women.\nYuri Shvets, another former Soviet spy residing in the US,\nclaims\nthat the USSR cultivated Donald Trump since the 1970s, supporting his political ambitions and flattering him. According to him, Trump became a target of Soviet and Czechoslovak intelligence in 1977 after marrying Czech model Ivana Zelníčková.\nIvana Zelníčková, Trump’s first wife,\nreportedly\nworked with the Czechoslovak security service surveillance, the Státní Bezpečnost (StB), according to archive materials studied by the Prague-based Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, and first reported by Czech Television.\nThe StB formally cooperated with Russia’s KGB, Poland’s SB, East Germany’s Stasi and other Soviet bloc intelligence agencies.\nCzechoslovakia’s StB monitored Ivana Trump and her family for decades. Reports tracked her marriages, emigration, and ties to Trump, wiretapping her calls and observing her children’s visits, and her father was reportedly pressured to cooperate.\nShvets claims that in the early 1980s, Trump entered in business interactions with Soviet immigrant Semion Kislin, allegedly linked to the KGB and that during Trump’s visit in Moscow and Leningrad in 1987, KGB agents encouraged him to enter politics.\nThe White House and Alnur Mussayev were both contacted for comment.","attrs_markdown":"[![Byline Times](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!AFNf!,w_40,h_40,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F54ff99ed-b85d-40f3-8f04-2ea74ad0a267_705x705.png)](https:\/\/www.bylinesupplement.com\/)\n\n# [![Byline Times](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!iFw7!,e_trim:10:white\/e_trim:10:transparent\/h_122,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F160fdd08-de4a-48fa-8575-c8939d5f6ed8_2345x549.png)](https:\/\/www.bylinesupplement.com\/)\nSubscribe\n\nSign in\n\n# BREAKING CROSSPOST: Donald Trump Was Recruited by the KGB Under Codename ‘Krasnov’ Claims Former Soviet Spy Chief\n### Byline Times has crashed due to a DDOS attack and the original story blocked: a former senior KGB chief claims Trump was recruited by them in 1987 due to his role as a prominent US businessman\n[Nafeez Ahmed](https:\/\/substack.com\/@drnafeezmahmed) and [Zarina Zabrisky](https:\/\/substack.com\/@zarinazabrisky)\n\nFeb 21, 2025\n\n578\n\n4\n\n225\n\nShare\n\n[![](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!Sllu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ac083e1-9610-4114-8380-a092f5e53c9f_1481x943.jpeg)](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!Sllu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ac083e1-9610-4114-8380-a092f5e53c9f_1481x943.jpeg)\n\n***To support our work, [subscribe](https:\/\/subscribe.bylinetimes.com\/) to the monthly Byline Times print edition, packed with exclusive investigations, news, and analysis. [Help us build the better media Britain deserves](https:\/\/subscribe.bylinetimes.com\/)***\n\nA former senior Soviet KGB spy chief has claimed that [Donald Trump](https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2024\/07\/24\/donald-trump-russia-forever-wars\/) was recruited as a spy by Russian [intelligence](https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2024\/10\/21\/donald-trump-linked-operatives-ran-unlawful-surveillance-campaign-against-democratic-politicians-alleges-whistleblower\/) as early as 38 years ago by his department, and given the codename ‘Krasnov’.\n\nByline Supplement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work on Putin, Trump and Musk, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.\n\nRussia’s ‘Committee for State Security’, abbreviated as KGB, was the main security agency of the Soviet Union between 1954 to 1991, responsible for internal security, foreign intelligence, counterintelligence and secret [police](https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2024\/09\/11\/only-a-tiny-fraction-of-child-abuse-allegations-made-by-victims-are-leading-to-charges\/) functions.\n\nIn an extraordinary post on Facebook on 20 February, Alnur Mussayev – who [used to run](https:\/\/archive.ph\/2024.12.08-155435\/https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/article\/kazakh-leader-secretly-owns-pound50m-home-vsqfdjs37g0) the successor to the Soviet-era KGB in Kazakhstan – claimed that he was personally aware of Trump’s recruitment by the agency in 1987.\n\nThe recruitment, he said, was undertaken by his own KGB department. One of the key roles of that department was to acquire intelligence through business leaders in Western countries.\n\n“In 1987, I served in the 6th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR in Moscow. The most important area of work of the 6th Directorate was the recruitment of businessmen from capitalist countries”, wrote Mussayev in a Russian language post on Facebook.\n\n“It was that year that our Office recruited 40-year-old businessman from the United States, Donald [Trump](https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2024\/08\/15\/the-uks-race-riots-a-trial-run-for-another-us-insurrection\/), under the pseudonym ‘Krasnov’”.\n\nHe later added: “In the activity of intelligence agencies, as in life, everything is possible, even the wildest and incredible things.\n\n“For example, recruitment of future leaders of state and even the President of the United States.”\n\nMussayev’s most recent senior intelligence position was as head of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee (KNB) under the tenure of President Nursultan Nazarbayev from May 1997 to September 1998. He returned for a second term from August 1999 to May 2001.\n\nPrior to that, however, he was a long-serving KGB officer.\n\nIn 2007 he fled the country after accusing the [government](https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2024\/09\/09\/labour-small-business-tax-evasion\/) of widespread corruption in the form of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from Western oil giants. Exiled to Austria, in 2008 he survived an attempted kidnapping which he attributed to the Kazakhstan government.\n\n#### [Silicon Valley Whistleblowers Warn Elon Musk ‘Hijacking’ Republicans to Control Entire US Government](https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2025\/02\/07\/silicon-valley-whistleblowers-warn-elon-musk-hijacking-republicans-to-control-entire-us-government\/)\n*Byline Times* can confirm based on [archived Russian newspaper materials](https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230105201003\/https:\/\/lenta.ru\/lib\/14190507\/) that Mussayev first joined active military service in the KGB of the Soviet Union in 1979.\n\nHe then joined KGB counterintelligence of the Kazakh special services. From 1986 to 1989 – the period in which he said he was aware of Donald Trump’s KGB recruitment – he was seconded to the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR in Moscow, before returning to the KGB.\n\nThe Russian language sources on Mussayev’s KGB career are unclear on which directorate he was involved in. Although in his Facebook post he said he worked for the 6th Directorate, he has also been described as working in the 8th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. Public information on these directorates and how they worked is sparse.\n\nThe memoirs of KGB defectors like Oleg Gordievsky, Yuri Bezmenov and Stanislav Levchenko confirm that in this period Western business leaders were frequently the targets of Soviet intelligence. Although the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not typically initiate these operations, these accounts show that it frequently supported or facilitated the KGB’s operatoins by leveraging its domestic authority inside the USSR – particularly in terms of [surveillance](https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2024\/10\/21\/donald-trump-linked-operatives-ran-unlawful-surveillance-campaign-against-democratic-politicians-alleges-whistleblower\/), entrapment, and visa oversight for foreign visitors.\n\n#### [‘There Is Nothing ‘Natural’ About Donald Trump’s Predatory Exploitation of Ukraine’](https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2025\/02\/21\/trump-ukraine-russian-deal-zelensky\/)\n***\n## A History of Allegations\nMussayev’s claims are not the first time that a former senior KGB intelligence officer has publicly claimed that they were aware of Donald Trump’s recruitment to the KGB, but it is the first time that Trump’s alleged Russian codename, ‘Krasnov’, has been identified.\n\nAccording to [Oleg Kalugin](https:\/\/gordonua.com\/publications\/kaluhin-na-trampa-khb-imel-materialy-tochno-na-kakom-to-etape-mohli-vspomnit-ob-etom-khb-vsehda-otlichalsja-khoroshej-pamjatju-1231157.html), a former KGB general, who served in foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, and during the Soviet era was Vladimir Putin’s direct superior, Trump was on the radar of Soviet and Russian intelligence as early as the 1980s with claims that the KGB had *kompromat* on him, including reports of his sexual relationships with women.\n\nYuri Shvets, another former Soviet spy residing in the US, [claims](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2021\/jan\/29\/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book) that the USSR cultivated Donald Trump since the 1970s, supporting his political ambitions and flattering him. According to him, Trump became a target of Soviet and Czechoslovak intelligence in 1977 after marrying Czech model Ivana Zelníčková.\n\nIvana Zelníčková, Trump’s first wife, [reportedly](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2018\/oct\/29\/trump-czechoslovakia-communism-spying) worked with the Czechoslovak security service surveillance, the Státní Bezpečnost (StB), according to archive materials studied by the Prague-based Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, and first reported by Czech Television.\n\nThe StB formally cooperated with Russia’s KGB, Poland’s SB, East Germany’s Stasi and other Soviet bloc intelligence agencies.\n\nCzechoslovakia’s StB monitored Ivana Trump and her family for decades. Reports tracked her marriages, emigration, and ties to Trump, wiretapping her calls and observing her children’s visits, and her father was reportedly pressured to cooperate.\n\nShvets claims that in the early 1980s, Trump entered in business interactions with Soviet immigrant Semion Kislin, allegedly linked to the KGB and that during Trump’s visit in Moscow and Leningrad in 1987, KGB agents encouraged him to enter politics.\n\nThe White House and Alnur Mussayev were both contacted for comment.\n\nByline Supplement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.\n\n[![Martin John Godleman's avatar](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!WySi!,w_32,h_32,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8c1e330a-16e8-41ae-9d27-6255ca1dbbe6_750x750.jpeg)](https:\/\/substack.com\/profile\/21198082-martin-john-godleman)\n\n[![Anne Settanni's avatar](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!gGHr!,w_32,h_32,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa200c996-3022-4757-a9a3-f5adade86f14_1280x960.jpeg)](https:\/\/substack.com\/profile\/709628-anne-settanni)\n\n[![Yakutat@‘94's avatar](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!hYEn!,w_32,h_32,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25e05057-575b-4df7-9207-6c93a48d4380_1176x1177.jpeg)](https:\/\/substack.com\/profile\/45492928-yakutat94)\n\n[![Thomas Clinton Dorwart's avatar](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!68IU!,w_32,h_32,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F92af6623-a5dc-485f-948d-c6aa99a5e7e7_200x200.jpeg)](https:\/\/substack.com\/profile\/26743604-thomas-clinton-dorwart)\n\n[![Julian Friedmann's avatar](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!eimC!,w_32,h_32,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa801ffcf-35c0-495f-ad99-8df56330318e_144x144.png)](https:\/\/substack.com\/profile\/7226070-julian-friedmann)\n\n[578 Likes]()∙\n\n[225 Restacks](https:\/\/substack.com\/note\/p-157652002\/restacks?utm_source=substack&utm_content=facepile-restacks)\n\n578\n\n4\n\n225\n\nShare\n\nPrevious\n\nNext\n\n|   |   |\n|---|---|\n| [![Nafeez Ahmed's avatar](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!nC3V!,w_52,h_52,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F53b11cde-a8d6-443b-af20-ba0355d92056_800x798.jpeg)](https:\/\/substack.com\/@drnafeezmahmed?utm_source=byline) |   |\n|   |   |\n| [Nafeez Ahmed](https:\/\/substack.com\/@drnafeezmahmed?utm_campaign=guest_post_bio&utm_medium=web)Director of Investigations & Strategic Impact \/ Byline Times | [Subscribe to Nafeez](https:\/\/drnafeezmahmed.substack.com\/subscribe) |\n\n|   |   |\n|---|---|\n| [![Zarina Zabrisky's avatar](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!PN29!,w_52,h_52,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdfabe1fd-7c18-400f-bbe6-6342e12d4a0f_576x1040.jpeg)](https:\/\/substack.com\/@zarinazabrisky?utm_source=byline) |   |\n|   |   |\n| [Zarina Zabrisky](https:\/\/substack.com\/@zarinazabrisky?utm_campaign=guest_post_bio&utm_medium=web)Zarina Zabrisky is an award-winning author of five books, U.S. journalist, war correspondent for Byline Times and Euromaidan Press, contributor to BBC News and VOA, and director\/producer of the documentary Kherson: Human Safari. | [Subscribe to Zarina](https:\/\/zarinazabrisky.substack.com\/subscribe) |\n\n#### Discussion about this post\nComments\n\nRestacks\n\n[![Jacky Smith's avatar](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!n7Iv!,w_32,h_32,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack.com%2Fimg%2Favatars%2Fblack.png)](https:\/\/substack.com\/profile\/2036584-jacky-smith?utm_source=comment)\n\n[Jacky Smith](https:\/\/substack.com\/profile\/2036584-jacky-smith?utm_source=substack-feed-item)\n\n[Feb 22, 2025](https:\/\/www.bylinesupplement.com\/p\/breaking-crosspost-donald-trump-was\/comment\/95328536 \"Feb 22, 2025, 10:06 AM\")\n\nDefinitely hit the spot - a DDOS attack on the main website is an admission of guilt.\n\nBut just as an aside: someone has to be applying the same level of investigation to Vance, too. We need him gone before Trump, ideally...\n\n[Like (38)]()\n\n[Reply]()\n\n[Share]()\n\n[![patrick flockhart's avatar](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!i9GT!,w_32,h_32,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack.com%2Fimg%2Favatars%2Fpurple.png)](https:\/\/substack.com\/profile\/112543110-patrick-flockhart?utm_source=comment)\n\n[patrick flockhart](https:\/\/substack.com\/profile\/112543110-patrick-flockhart?utm_source=substack-feed-item)\n\n[Mar 4, 2025](https:\/\/www.bylinesupplement.com\/p\/breaking-crosspost-donald-trump-was\/comment\/98023968 \"Mar 4, 2025, 10:10 PM\")\n\nis this fake news?\n\n[Like]()\n\n[Reply]()\n\n[Share]()\n\n[2 replies](https:\/\/www.bylinesupplement.com\/p\/breaking-crosspost-donald-trump-was\/comment\/98023968)\n\n[2 more comments...](https:\/\/www.bylinesupplement.com\/p\/breaking-crosspost-donald-trump-was\/comments)\n\nTop\n\nLatest\n\nDiscussions\n\n[‘Trump Has Already Rigged the 2028 Presidential Election’: US Defence Insider](https:\/\/www.bylinesupplement.com\/p\/trump-has-already-rigged-the-2028)\n\n[Regardless of how people vote, the chances of a Democrat Government coming to power in 2029 is now virtually nil, argues Brynn Tannehill](https:\/\/www.bylinesupplement.com\/p\/trump-has-already-rigged-the-2028)\n\nJan 23\n\n• [Byline Times](https:\/\/substack.com\/@bylinetimes)\n\n2,191\n\n2\n\n1,289\n\n![](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!YZtm!,w_320,h_213,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_center\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a496161-ead1-4987-ab9d-a7b1ff76736e_1500x943.png)\n\n[Trump Isn't Joking About Lebensraum](https:\/\/www.bylinesupplement.com\/p\/trump-isnt-joking-about-liebensraum)\n\n[Trump's plans for Greenland, the Panama Canal, Canada and Mexico aren't just idle talk. A senior US insider tells us what to expect](https:\/\/www.bylinesupplement.com\/p\/trump-isnt-joking-about-liebensraum)\n\nFeb 19, 2025\n\n• [Byline Times](https:\/\/substack.com\/@bylinetimes)\n\n573\n\n4\n\n217\n\n![](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!pbp1!,w_320,h_213,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_center\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fec55b423-b09f-451f-9a8d-7100c8483bf4_2464x1643.jpeg)\n\n[The End of Morgan McSweeney: Peter Oborne on Keir Starmer's Departing Chief of Staff](https:\/\/www.bylinesupplement.com\/p\/the-end-of-morgan-mcsweeney-peter)\n\n[As McSweeney resigns, we re-publish Peter Oborne’s Byline Times reporting on how Keir Starmer's chief strategist drove Labour towards defeat by the…](https:\/\/www.bylinesupplement.com\/p\/the-end-of-morgan-mcsweeney-peter)\n\nFeb 8\n\n• [Peter Oborne](https:\/\/substack.com\/@peteroborne)\n\n324\n\n12\n\n114\n\n![](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!64Sd!,w_320,h_213,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_center\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fff54bb11-c2a7-497e-ac6b-2b38b85a78f3_1500x1017.jpeg)\n\nSee all\n### Ready for more?\n\n© 2026 Byline Media Holdings Ltd · [Privacy](https:\/\/substack.com\/privacy) ∙ [Terms](https:\/\/substack.com\/tos) ∙ [Collection notice](https:\/\/substack.com\/ccpa#personal-data-collected)\n\n[Start your Substack](https:\/\/substack.com\/signup?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_content=footer)\n\n[Get the app](https:\/\/substack.com\/app\/app-store-redirect?utm_campaign=app-marketing&utm_content=web-footer-button)\n\n[Substack](https:\/\/substack.com\/) is the home for great culture\n\nThis site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please [turn on JavaScript](https:\/\/enable-javascript.com\/) or unblock scripts","attrs_readable_markdown":"[![](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!Sllu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ac083e1-9610-4114-8380-a092f5e53c9f_1481x943.jpeg)](https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!Sllu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ac083e1-9610-4114-8380-a092f5e53c9f_1481x943.jpeg)\n\n***To support our work, [subscribe](https:\/\/subscribe.bylinetimes.com\/) to the monthly Byline Times print edition, packed with exclusive investigations, news, and analysis. [Help us build the better media Britain deserves](https:\/\/subscribe.bylinetimes.com\/)***\n\nA former senior Soviet KGB spy chief has claimed that [Donald Trump](https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2024\/07\/24\/donald-trump-russia-forever-wars\/) was recruited as a spy by Russian [intelligence](https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2024\/10\/21\/donald-trump-linked-operatives-ran-unlawful-surveillance-campaign-against-democratic-politicians-alleges-whistleblower\/) as early as 38 years ago by his department, and given the codename ‘Krasnov’.\n\nRussia’s ‘Committee for State Security’, abbreviated as KGB, was the main security agency of the Soviet Union between 1954 to 1991, responsible for internal security, foreign intelligence, counterintelligence and secret [police](https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2024\/09\/11\/only-a-tiny-fraction-of-child-abuse-allegations-made-by-victims-are-leading-to-charges\/) functions.\n\nIn an extraordinary post on Facebook on 20 February, Alnur Mussayev – who [used to run](https:\/\/archive.ph\/2024.12.08-155435\/https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/article\/kazakh-leader-secretly-owns-pound50m-home-vsqfdjs37g0) the successor to the Soviet-era KGB in Kazakhstan – claimed that he was personally aware of Trump’s recruitment by the agency in 1987.\n\nThe recruitment, he said, was undertaken by his own KGB department. One of the key roles of that department was to acquire intelligence through business leaders in Western countries.\n\n“In 1987, I served in the 6th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR in Moscow. The most important area of work of the 6th Directorate was the recruitment of businessmen from capitalist countries”, wrote Mussayev in a Russian language post on Facebook.\n\n“It was that year that our Office recruited 40-year-old businessman from the United States, Donald [Trump](https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2024\/08\/15\/the-uks-race-riots-a-trial-run-for-another-us-insurrection\/), under the pseudonym ‘Krasnov’”.\n\nHe later added: “In the activity of intelligence agencies, as in life, everything is possible, even the wildest and incredible things.\n\n“For example, recruitment of future leaders of state and even the President of the United States.”\n\nMussayev’s most recent senior intelligence position was as head of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee (KNB) under the tenure of President Nursultan Nazarbayev from May 1997 to September 1998. He returned for a second term from August 1999 to May 2001.\n\nPrior to that, however, he was a long-serving KGB officer.\n\nIn 2007 he fled the country after accusing the [government](https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2024\/09\/09\/labour-small-business-tax-evasion\/) of widespread corruption in the form of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from Western oil giants. Exiled to Austria, in 2008 he survived an attempted kidnapping which he attributed to the Kazakhstan government.\n\n*Byline Times* can confirm based on [archived Russian newspaper materials](https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20230105201003\/https:\/\/lenta.ru\/lib\/14190507\/) that Mussayev first joined active military service in the KGB of the Soviet Union in 1979.\n\nHe then joined KGB counterintelligence of the Kazakh special services. From 1986 to 1989 – the period in which he said he was aware of Donald Trump’s KGB recruitment – he was seconded to the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR in Moscow, before returning to the KGB.\n\nThe Russian language sources on Mussayev’s KGB career are unclear on which directorate he was involved in. Although in his Facebook post he said he worked for the 6th Directorate, he has also been described as working in the 8th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. Public information on these directorates and how they worked is sparse.\n\nThe memoirs of KGB defectors like Oleg Gordievsky, Yuri Bezmenov and Stanislav Levchenko confirm that in this period Western business leaders were frequently the targets of Soviet intelligence. Although the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not typically initiate these operations, these accounts show that it frequently supported or facilitated the KGB’s operatoins by leveraging its domestic authority inside the USSR – particularly in terms of [surveillance](https:\/\/bylinetimes.com\/2024\/10\/21\/donald-trump-linked-operatives-ran-unlawful-surveillance-campaign-against-democratic-politicians-alleges-whistleblower\/), entrapment, and visa oversight for foreign visitors.\n\nMussayev’s claims are not the first time that a former senior KGB intelligence officer has publicly claimed that they were aware of Donald Trump’s recruitment to the KGB, but it is the first time that Trump’s alleged Russian codename, ‘Krasnov’, has been identified.\n\nAccording to [Oleg Kalugin](https:\/\/gordonua.com\/publications\/kaluhin-na-trampa-khb-imel-materialy-tochno-na-kakom-to-etape-mohli-vspomnit-ob-etom-khb-vsehda-otlichalsja-khoroshej-pamjatju-1231157.html), a former KGB general, who served in foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, and during the Soviet era was Vladimir Putin’s direct superior, Trump was on the radar of Soviet and Russian intelligence as early as the 1980s with claims that the KGB had *kompromat* on him, including reports of his sexual relationships with women.\n\nYuri Shvets, another former Soviet spy residing in the US, [claims](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2021\/jan\/29\/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book) that the USSR cultivated Donald Trump since the 1970s, supporting his political ambitions and flattering him. According to him, Trump became a target of Soviet and Czechoslovak intelligence in 1977 after marrying Czech model Ivana Zelníčková.\n\nIvana Zelníčková, Trump’s first wife, [reportedly](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2018\/oct\/29\/trump-czechoslovakia-communism-spying) worked with the Czechoslovak security service surveillance, the Státní Bezpečnost (StB), according to archive materials studied by the Prague-based Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, and first reported by Czech Television.\n\nThe StB formally cooperated with Russia’s KGB, Poland’s SB, East Germany’s Stasi and other Soviet bloc intelligence agencies.\n\nCzechoslovakia’s StB monitored Ivana Trump and her family for decades. Reports tracked her marriages, emigration, and ties to Trump, wiretapping her calls and observing her children’s visits, and her father was reportedly pressured to cooperate.\n\nShvets claims that in the early 1980s, Trump entered in business interactions with Soviet immigrant Semion Kislin, allegedly linked to the KGB and that during Trump’s visit in Moscow and Leningrad in 1987, KGB agents encouraged him to enter politics.\n\nThe White House and Alnur Mussayev were both contacted for comment.","meta_canonical":null}

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Meta Title	BREAKING CROSSPOST: Donald Trump Was Recruited by the KGB Under Codename ‘Krasnov’ Claims Former Soviet Spy Chief
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Boilerpipe Text	To support our work, subscribe to the monthly Byline Times print edition, packed with exclusive investigations, news, and analysis. Help us build the better media Britain deserves A former senior Soviet KGB spy chief has claimed that Donald Trump was recruited as a spy by Russian intelligence as early as 38 years ago by his department, and given the codename ‘Krasnov’. Russia’s ‘Committee for State Security’, abbreviated as KGB, was the main security agency of the Soviet Union between 1954 to 1991, responsible for internal security, foreign intelligence, counterintelligence and secret police functions. In an extraordinary post on Facebook on 20 February, Alnur Mussayev – who used to run the successor to the Soviet-era KGB in Kazakhstan – claimed that he was personally aware of Trump’s recruitment by the agency in 1987. The recruitment, he said, was undertaken by his own KGB department. One of the key roles of that department was to acquire intelligence through business leaders in Western countries. “In 1987, I served in the 6th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR in Moscow. The most important area of work of the 6th Directorate was the recruitment of businessmen from capitalist countries”, wrote Mussayev in a Russian language post on Facebook. “It was that year that our Office recruited 40-year-old businessman from the United States, Donald Trump , under the pseudonym ‘Krasnov’”. He later added: “In the activity of intelligence agencies, as in life, everything is possible, even the wildest and incredible things. “For example, recruitment of future leaders of state and even the President of the United States.” Mussayev’s most recent senior intelligence position was as head of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee (KNB) under the tenure of President Nursultan Nazarbayev from May 1997 to September 1998. He returned for a second term from August 1999 to May 2001. Prior to that, however, he was a long-serving KGB officer. In 2007 he fled the country after accusing the government of widespread corruption in the form of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from Western oil giants. Exiled to Austria, in 2008 he survived an attempted kidnapping which he attributed to the Kazakhstan government. Byline Times can confirm based on archived Russian newspaper materials that Mussayev first joined active military service in the KGB of the Soviet Union in 1979. He then joined KGB counterintelligence of the Kazakh special services. From 1986 to 1989 – the period in which he said he was aware of Donald Trump’s KGB recruitment – he was seconded to the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR in Moscow, before returning to the KGB. The Russian language sources on Mussayev’s KGB career are unclear on which directorate he was involved in. Although in his Facebook post he said he worked for the 6th Directorate, he has also been described as working in the 8th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. Public information on these directorates and how they worked is sparse. The memoirs of KGB defectors like Oleg Gordievsky, Yuri Bezmenov and Stanislav Levchenko confirm that in this period Western business leaders were frequently the targets of Soviet intelligence. Although the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not typically initiate these operations, these accounts show that it frequently supported or facilitated the KGB’s operatoins by leveraging its domestic authority inside the USSR – particularly in terms of surveillance , entrapment, and visa oversight for foreign visitors. Mussayev’s claims are not the first time that a former senior KGB intelligence officer has publicly claimed that they were aware of Donald Trump’s recruitment to the KGB, but it is the first time that Trump’s alleged Russian codename, ‘Krasnov’, has been identified. According to Oleg Kalugin , a former KGB general, who served in foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, and during the Soviet era was Vladimir Putin’s direct superior, Trump was on the radar of Soviet and Russian intelligence as early as the 1980s with claims that the KGB had kompromat on him, including reports of his sexual relationships with women. Yuri Shvets, another former Soviet spy residing in the US, claims that the USSR cultivated Donald Trump since the 1970s, supporting his political ambitions and flattering him. According to him, Trump became a target of Soviet and Czechoslovak intelligence in 1977 after marrying Czech model Ivana Zelníčková. Ivana Zelníčková, Trump’s first wife, reportedly worked with the Czechoslovak security service surveillance, the Státní Bezpečnost (StB), according to archive materials studied by the Prague-based Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, and first reported by Czech Television. The StB formally cooperated with Russia’s KGB, Poland’s SB, East Germany’s Stasi and other Soviet bloc intelligence agencies. Czechoslovakia’s StB monitored Ivana Trump and her family for decades. Reports tracked her marriages, emigration, and ties to Trump, wiretapping her calls and observing her children’s visits, and her father was reportedly pressured to cooperate. Shvets claims that in the early 1980s, Trump entered in business interactions with Soviet immigrant Semion Kislin, allegedly linked to the KGB and that during Trump’s visit in Moscow and Leningrad in 1987, KGB agents encouraged him to enter politics. The White House and Alnur Mussayev were both contacted for comment.
Markdown	[![Byline Times](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AFNf!,w_40,h_40,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F54ff99ed-b85d-40f3-8f04-2ea74ad0a267_705x705.png)](https://www.bylinesupplement.com/) # [![Byline Times](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iFw7!,e_trim:10:white/e_trim:10:transparent/h_122,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F160fdd08-de4a-48fa-8575-c8939d5f6ed8_2345x549.png)](https://www.bylinesupplement.com/) Subscribe Sign in # BREAKING CROSSPOST: Donald Trump Was Recruited by the KGB Under Codename ‘Krasnov’ Claims Former Soviet Spy Chief ### Byline Times has crashed due to a DDOS attack and the original story blocked: a former senior KGB chief claims Trump was recruited by them in 1987 due to his role as a prominent US businessman [Nafeez Ahmed](https://substack.com/@drnafeezmahmed) and [Zarina Zabrisky](https://substack.com/@zarinazabrisky) Feb 21, 2025 578 4 225 Share [![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sllu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ac083e1-9610-4114-8380-a092f5e53c9f_1481x943.jpeg)](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sllu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ac083e1-9610-4114-8380-a092f5e53c9f_1481x943.jpeg) *To support our work, [subscribe](https://subscribe.bylinetimes.com/) to the monthly Byline Times print edition, packed with exclusive investigations, news, and analysis. [Help us build the better media Britain deserves](https://subscribe.bylinetimes.com/)* A former senior Soviet KGB spy chief has claimed that [Donald Trump](https://bylinetimes.com/2024/07/24/donald-trump-russia-forever-wars/) was recruited as a spy by Russian [intelligence](https://bylinetimes.com/2024/10/21/donald-trump-linked-operatives-ran-unlawful-surveillance-campaign-against-democratic-politicians-alleges-whistleblower/) as early as 38 years ago by his department, and given the codename ‘Krasnov’. Byline Supplement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work on Putin, Trump and Musk, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Russia’s ‘Committee for State Security’, abbreviated as KGB, was the main security agency of the Soviet Union between 1954 to 1991, responsible for internal security, foreign intelligence, counterintelligence and secret [police](https://bylinetimes.com/2024/09/11/only-a-tiny-fraction-of-child-abuse-allegations-made-by-victims-are-leading-to-charges/) functions. In an extraordinary post on Facebook on 20 February, Alnur Mussayev – who [used to run](https://archive.ph/2024.12.08-155435/https://www.thetimes.com/article/kazakh-leader-secretly-owns-pound50m-home-vsqfdjs37g0) the successor to the Soviet-era KGB in Kazakhstan – claimed that he was personally aware of Trump’s recruitment by the agency in 1987. The recruitment, he said, was undertaken by his own KGB department. One of the key roles of that department was to acquire intelligence through business leaders in Western countries. “In 1987, I served in the 6th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR in Moscow. The most important area of work of the 6th Directorate was the recruitment of businessmen from capitalist countries”, wrote Mussayev in a Russian language post on Facebook. “It was that year that our Office recruited 40-year-old businessman from the United States, Donald [Trump](https://bylinetimes.com/2024/08/15/the-uks-race-riots-a-trial-run-for-another-us-insurrection/), under the pseudonym ‘Krasnov’”. He later added: “In the activity of intelligence agencies, as in life, everything is possible, even the wildest and incredible things. “For example, recruitment of future leaders of state and even the President of the United States.” Mussayev’s most recent senior intelligence position was as head of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee (KNB) under the tenure of President Nursultan Nazarbayev from May 1997 to September 1998. He returned for a second term from August 1999 to May 2001. Prior to that, however, he was a long-serving KGB officer. In 2007 he fled the country after accusing the [government](https://bylinetimes.com/2024/09/09/labour-small-business-tax-evasion/) of widespread corruption in the form of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from Western oil giants. Exiled to Austria, in 2008 he survived an attempted kidnapping which he attributed to the Kazakhstan government. #### [Silicon Valley Whistleblowers Warn Elon Musk ‘Hijacking’ Republicans to Control Entire US Government](https://bylinetimes.com/2025/02/07/silicon-valley-whistleblowers-warn-elon-musk-hijacking-republicans-to-control-entire-us-government/) Byline Times can confirm based on [archived Russian newspaper materials](https://web.archive.org/web/20230105201003/https://lenta.ru/lib/14190507/) that Mussayev first joined active military service in the KGB of the Soviet Union in 1979. He then joined KGB counterintelligence of the Kazakh special services. From 1986 to 1989 – the period in which he said he was aware of Donald Trump’s KGB recruitment – he was seconded to the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR in Moscow, before returning to the KGB. The Russian language sources on Mussayev’s KGB career are unclear on which directorate he was involved in. Although in his Facebook post he said he worked for the 6th Directorate, he has also been described as working in the 8th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. Public information on these directorates and how they worked is sparse. The memoirs of KGB defectors like Oleg Gordievsky, Yuri Bezmenov and Stanislav Levchenko confirm that in this period Western business leaders were frequently the targets of Soviet intelligence. Although the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not typically initiate these operations, these accounts show that it frequently supported or facilitated the KGB’s operatoins by leveraging its domestic authority inside the USSR – particularly in terms of [surveillance](https://bylinetimes.com/2024/10/21/donald-trump-linked-operatives-ran-unlawful-surveillance-campaign-against-democratic-politicians-alleges-whistleblower/), entrapment, and visa oversight for foreign visitors. #### [‘There Is Nothing ‘Natural’ About Donald Trump’s Predatory Exploitation of Ukraine’](https://bylinetimes.com/2025/02/21/trump-ukraine-russian-deal-zelensky/) *** ## A History of Allegations Mussayev’s claims are not the first time that a former senior KGB intelligence officer has publicly claimed that they were aware of Donald Trump’s recruitment to the KGB, but it is the first time that Trump’s alleged Russian codename, ‘Krasnov’, has been identified. According to [Oleg Kalugin](https://gordonua.com/publications/kaluhin-na-trampa-khb-imel-materialy-tochno-na-kakom-to-etape-mohli-vspomnit-ob-etom-khb-vsehda-otlichalsja-khoroshej-pamjatju-1231157.html), a former KGB general, who served in foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, and during the Soviet era was Vladimir Putin’s direct superior, Trump was on the radar of Soviet and Russian intelligence as early as the 1980s with claims that the KGB had kompromat on him, including reports of his sexual relationships with women. Yuri Shvets, another former Soviet spy residing in the US, [claims](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book) that the USSR cultivated Donald Trump since the 1970s, supporting his political ambitions and flattering him. According to him, Trump became a target of Soviet and Czechoslovak intelligence in 1977 after marrying Czech model Ivana Zelníčková. Ivana Zelníčková, Trump’s first wife, [reportedly](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/29/trump-czechoslovakia-communism-spying) worked with the Czechoslovak security service surveillance, the Státní Bezpečnost (StB), according to archive materials studied by the Prague-based Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, and first reported by Czech Television. The StB formally cooperated with Russia’s KGB, Poland’s SB, East Germany’s Stasi and other Soviet bloc intelligence agencies. Czechoslovakia’s StB monitored Ivana Trump and her family for decades. Reports tracked her marriages, emigration, and ties to Trump, wiretapping her calls and observing her children’s visits, and her father was reportedly pressured to cooperate. Shvets claims that in the early 1980s, Trump entered in business interactions with Soviet immigrant Semion Kislin, allegedly linked to the KGB and that during Trump’s visit in Moscow and Leningrad in 1987, KGB agents encouraged him to enter politics. The White House and Alnur Mussayev were both contacted for comment. Byline Supplement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. 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But just as an aside: someone has to be applying the same level of investigation to Vance, too. We need him gone before Trump, ideally... [Like (38)]() [Reply]() [Share]() [![patrick flockhart's avatar](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i9GT!,w_32,h_32,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack.com%2Fimg%2Favatars%2Fpurple.png)](https://substack.com/profile/112543110-patrick-flockhart?utm_source=comment) [patrick flockhart](https://substack.com/profile/112543110-patrick-flockhart?utm_source=substack-feed-item) [Mar 4, 2025](https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/breaking-crosspost-donald-trump-was/comment/98023968 "Mar 4, 2025, 10:10 PM") is this fake news? [Like]() [Reply]() [Share]() [2 replies](https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/breaking-crosspost-donald-trump-was/comment/98023968) [2 more comments...](https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/breaking-crosspost-donald-trump-was/comments) Top Latest Discussions [‘Trump Has Already Rigged the 2028 Presidential Election’: US Defence Insider](https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/trump-has-already-rigged-the-2028) [Regardless of how people vote, the chances of a Democrat Government coming to power in 2029 is now virtually nil, argues Brynn Tannehill](https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/trump-has-already-rigged-the-2028) Jan 23 • [Byline Times](https://substack.com/@bylinetimes) 2,191 2 1,289 ![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YZtm!,w_320,h_213,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_center/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a496161-ead1-4987-ab9d-a7b1ff76736e_1500x943.png) [Trump Isn't Joking About Lebensraum](https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/trump-isnt-joking-about-liebensraum) [Trump's plans for Greenland, the Panama Canal, Canada and Mexico aren't just idle talk. 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Readable Markdown	[![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sllu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ac083e1-9610-4114-8380-a092f5e53c9f_1481x943.jpeg)](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sllu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ac083e1-9610-4114-8380-a092f5e53c9f_1481x943.jpeg) *To support our work, [subscribe](https://subscribe.bylinetimes.com/) to the monthly Byline Times print edition, packed with exclusive investigations, news, and analysis. [Help us build the better media Britain deserves](https://subscribe.bylinetimes.com/)* A former senior Soviet KGB spy chief has claimed that [Donald Trump](https://bylinetimes.com/2024/07/24/donald-trump-russia-forever-wars/) was recruited as a spy by Russian [intelligence](https://bylinetimes.com/2024/10/21/donald-trump-linked-operatives-ran-unlawful-surveillance-campaign-against-democratic-politicians-alleges-whistleblower/) as early as 38 years ago by his department, and given the codename ‘Krasnov’. Russia’s ‘Committee for State Security’, abbreviated as KGB, was the main security agency of the Soviet Union between 1954 to 1991, responsible for internal security, foreign intelligence, counterintelligence and secret [police](https://bylinetimes.com/2024/09/11/only-a-tiny-fraction-of-child-abuse-allegations-made-by-victims-are-leading-to-charges/) functions. In an extraordinary post on Facebook on 20 February, Alnur Mussayev – who [used to run](https://archive.ph/2024.12.08-155435/https://www.thetimes.com/article/kazakh-leader-secretly-owns-pound50m-home-vsqfdjs37g0) the successor to the Soviet-era KGB in Kazakhstan – claimed that he was personally aware of Trump’s recruitment by the agency in 1987. The recruitment, he said, was undertaken by his own KGB department. One of the key roles of that department was to acquire intelligence through business leaders in Western countries. “In 1987, I served in the 6th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR in Moscow. The most important area of work of the 6th Directorate was the recruitment of businessmen from capitalist countries”, wrote Mussayev in a Russian language post on Facebook. “It was that year that our Office recruited 40-year-old businessman from the United States, Donald [Trump](https://bylinetimes.com/2024/08/15/the-uks-race-riots-a-trial-run-for-another-us-insurrection/), under the pseudonym ‘Krasnov’”. He later added: “In the activity of intelligence agencies, as in life, everything is possible, even the wildest and incredible things. “For example, recruitment of future leaders of state and even the President of the United States.” Mussayev’s most recent senior intelligence position was as head of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee (KNB) under the tenure of President Nursultan Nazarbayev from May 1997 to September 1998. He returned for a second term from August 1999 to May 2001. Prior to that, however, he was a long-serving KGB officer. In 2007 he fled the country after accusing the [government](https://bylinetimes.com/2024/09/09/labour-small-business-tax-evasion/) of widespread corruption in the form of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from Western oil giants. Exiled to Austria, in 2008 he survived an attempted kidnapping which he attributed to the Kazakhstan government. Byline Times can confirm based on [archived Russian newspaper materials](https://web.archive.org/web/20230105201003/https://lenta.ru/lib/14190507/) that Mussayev first joined active military service in the KGB of the Soviet Union in 1979. He then joined KGB counterintelligence of the Kazakh special services. From 1986 to 1989 – the period in which he said he was aware of Donald Trump’s KGB recruitment – he was seconded to the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR in Moscow, before returning to the KGB. The Russian language sources on Mussayev’s KGB career are unclear on which directorate he was involved in. Although in his Facebook post he said he worked for the 6th Directorate, he has also been described as working in the 8th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR. Public information on these directorates and how they worked is sparse. The memoirs of KGB defectors like Oleg Gordievsky, Yuri Bezmenov and Stanislav Levchenko confirm that in this period Western business leaders were frequently the targets of Soviet intelligence. Although the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not typically initiate these operations, these accounts show that it frequently supported or facilitated the KGB’s operatoins by leveraging its domestic authority inside the USSR – particularly in terms of [surveillance](https://bylinetimes.com/2024/10/21/donald-trump-linked-operatives-ran-unlawful-surveillance-campaign-against-democratic-politicians-alleges-whistleblower/), entrapment, and visa oversight for foreign visitors. Mussayev’s claims are not the first time that a former senior KGB intelligence officer has publicly claimed that they were aware of Donald Trump’s recruitment to the KGB, but it is the first time that Trump’s alleged Russian codename, ‘Krasnov’, has been identified. According to [Oleg Kalugin](https://gordonua.com/publications/kaluhin-na-trampa-khb-imel-materialy-tochno-na-kakom-to-etape-mohli-vspomnit-ob-etom-khb-vsehda-otlichalsja-khoroshej-pamjatju-1231157.html), a former KGB general, who served in foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, and during the Soviet era was Vladimir Putin’s direct superior, Trump was on the radar of Soviet and Russian intelligence as early as the 1980s with claims that the KGB had kompromat on him, including reports of his sexual relationships with women. Yuri Shvets, another former Soviet spy residing in the US, [claims](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book) that the USSR cultivated Donald Trump since the 1970s, supporting his political ambitions and flattering him. According to him, Trump became a target of Soviet and Czechoslovak intelligence in 1977 after marrying Czech model Ivana Zelníčková. Ivana Zelníčková, Trump’s first wife, [reportedly](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/29/trump-czechoslovakia-communism-spying) worked with the Czechoslovak security service surveillance, the Státní Bezpečnost (StB), according to archive materials studied by the Prague-based Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, and first reported by Czech Television. The StB formally cooperated with Russia’s KGB, Poland’s SB, East Germany’s Stasi and other Soviet bloc intelligence agencies. Czechoslovakia’s StB monitored Ivana Trump and her family for decades. Reports tracked her marriages, emigration, and ties to Trump, wiretapping her calls and observing her children’s visits, and her father was reportedly pressured to cooperate. Shvets claims that in the early 1980s, Trump entered in business interactions with Soviet immigrant Semion Kislin, allegedly linked to the KGB and that during Trump’s visit in Moscow and Leningrad in 1987, KGB agents encouraged him to enter politics. The White House and Alnur Mussayev were both contacted for comment.
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