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see Mueller Report section IV. "RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT LINKS To AND CONTACTS WITH THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN", A. "Campaign Period (September 2015 - November 8, 2016)", 8. "Paul Manafort", iii. "Konstantin Kilimnik" (page 132) & b. "Contacts during Paul Manafort's Time with the Trump Campaign", iii. "Paul Manafort's Two Campaign-Period Meetings with Konstantin Kilimnik in the United States" (page 138)
m Added exact birth date, from Mueller Report
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| name = Konstantin Kilimnik
| name = Konstantin Kilimnik
| native_name = {{lang-ru|Константин Килимник}} <br /> {{lang-uk|Костянтин Килимник}}
| native_name = {{lang-ru|Константин Килимник}} <br /> {{lang-uk|Костянтин Килимник}}
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1970}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1970|4|27}}
| birth_place = [[Kryvy Rih|Kryvyi Rih]], [[Dnipropetrovsk Oblast|Dnipropetrovsk]], [[Ukraine]], [[Soviet Union]]
| birth_place = [[Kryvy Rih|Kryvyi Rih]], [[Dnipropetrovsk Oblast|Dnipropetrovsk]], [[Ukraine]], [[Soviet Union]]
| citizenship = [[Ukraine]], [[Russia]]<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/the-shadowy-operative-at-the-center-of-the-russia-scandal/556823/|title=The Shadowy Operative at the Center of the Russia Scandal|first=Natasha|last=Bertrand|date=29 March 2018|website=The Atlantic}}</ref>
| citizenship = [[Ukraine]], [[Russia]]<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/the-shadowy-operative-at-the-center-of-the-russia-scandal/556823/|title=The Shadowy Operative at the Center of the Russia Scandal|first=Natasha|last=Bertrand|date=29 March 2018|website=The Atlantic}}</ref>
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'''Konstantin V. Kilimnik''' ({{lang-ru|Константин Килимник}}; {{lang-uk|Костянтин Килимник}}; born 1970) is a Russian/Ukrainian<ref name="auto1"/> [[political consultant]]. In the United States, he has become a person of interest in the [[2017 Special Counsel investigation]] into [[Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections]], particularly due to his ties with [[Paul Manafort]], an American political consultant, who served as a campaign chairman for [[Donald Trump]] and is now a convicted felon.
'''Konstantin V. Kilimnik''' ({{lang-ru|Константин Килимник}}; {{lang-uk|Костянтин Килимник}}; born April 27, 1970) is a Russian/Ukrainian<ref name="auto1"/> [[political consultant]]. In the United States, he has become a person of interest in the [[2017 Special Counsel investigation]] into [[Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections]], particularly due to his ties with [[Paul Manafort]], an American political consultant, who served as a campaign chairman for [[Donald Trump]] and is now a convicted felon.


Kilimnik is believed by [[CNN]] and ''[[The New York Times]]'' to be "Person A" listed in court documents filed by the Special Counsel against Manafort, which allege that Person A has ties to [[Russian intelligence agencies]], or is a Russian intelligence operative. He is also believed to be Person A in court documents filed in the criminal indictment of [[Alex van der Zwaan]]. In 2017 Kilimnik denied any such intelligence ties.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/29/politics/mueller-gates-russia-investigation-contacts/index.html|title=Source: Mueller pushed for Gates' help on collusion|first=Katelyn Polantz and Evan Perez,|last=CNN|publisher=}}</ref>
Kilimnik is believed by [[CNN]] and ''[[The New York Times]]'' to be "Person A" listed in court documents filed by the Special Counsel against Manafort, which allege that Person A has ties to [[Russian intelligence agencies]], or is a Russian intelligence operative. He is also believed to be Person A in court documents filed in the criminal indictment of [[Alex van der Zwaan]]. In 2017 Kilimnik denied any such intelligence ties.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/29/politics/mueller-gates-russia-investigation-contacts/index.html|title=Source: Mueller pushed for Gates' help on collusion|first=Katelyn Polantz and Evan Perez,|last=CNN|publisher=}}</ref>

Revision as of 19:59, 30 May 2019

Konstantin Kilimnik
Template:Lang-ru
Template:Lang-uk
Born (1970-04-27) April 27, 1970 (age 54)
Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, Soviet Union
CitizenshipUkraine, Russia[1]
Known forRussian interference in the 2016 United States elections

Konstantin V. Kilimnik (Template:Lang-ru; Template:Lang-uk; born April 27, 1970) is a Russian/Ukrainian[1] political consultant. In the United States, he has become a person of interest in the 2017 Special Counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, particularly due to his ties with Paul Manafort, an American political consultant, who served as a campaign chairman for Donald Trump and is now a convicted felon.

Kilimnik is believed by CNN and The New York Times to be "Person A" listed in court documents filed by the Special Counsel against Manafort, which allege that Person A has ties to Russian intelligence agencies, or is a Russian intelligence operative. He is also believed to be Person A in court documents filed in the criminal indictment of Alex van der Zwaan. In 2017 Kilimnik denied any such intelligence ties.[2]

Kilimnik was indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's grand jury on June 8, 2018, on charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice by attempting to tamper with a witness on behalf of Manafort.[3][4]

Early life

Kilimnik was born in 1970 at Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, Soviet Union.[5] Fluent in Russian and Ukrainian before his service in the Soviet Army,[5] he became fluent in Swedish and English as a linguist[5] at the Military University of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation,[6][7] which trained interpreters for the Soviet Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU).[8] He served in the Soviet Army as a translator and worked closely with the Soviet Army's GRU.[5] He took Russian citizenship after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[8] He worked in Sweden as an interpreter for a Russian arms dealer.[8] In Moscow, Kilmnik then worked for the International Republican Institute (IRI) from 1995 to early 2005.[5][8] According to anonymous sources, when applying for his position with the IRI, he responded to the question about how he learned English by stating that the "Russian military intelligence" taught him and he became known among Moscow political operatives as "Kostya, the guy from the GRU".[5] He claims he was dismissed in the early 2000s after the Federal Security Service's chief gave a speech discussing internal private meetings at the Institute.[8]

Employment by Manafort

Recruited by Philip M. Griffin as a translator for pro-Russia Ukrainian Rinat Akhmetov and seeking better pay than at IRI, Kilimnik met Paul Manafort in 2005 and became an employee of Manafort's consulting firm.[5][9] After leaving IRI in April 2005, he lived and worked in Kiev and Moscow while his wife and two children remained in Moscow living in a modest house near the Sheremetyevo International Airport.[5] Some reports say Kilimnik ran the Kiev office of Manafort's firm and was Manafort's right-hand man in Kiev.[5] They began working for Viktor Yanukovych after the 2004 Orange Revolution cost him the Presidency. With help from Manafort and Kilimnik, the Russian backed Yanukovych became President in 2010. Kilimnik then spent 90% of his time inside the Presidential administration.[9] From 2011 to 2013 with liaison to Viktor Yanukovych's chief of staff Serhiy Lyovochkin, Kilimnik, Manafort, Alan Friedman, Eckart Sager, who was a one time CNN producer, and Rick Gates devised a strategy to discredit Yulia Tymoshenko along with Hillary Clinton.[10] This effort supported the pro-Russia administration of then President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.[10] Yanukovvych hired Paul Manafort's company Global Endeavour, a St. Vincent and Grenadines based consulting and lobbying company, which during the end of Yanukovych's presidency transferred $750,000 out of Ukraine and also paid Kilimnik $53,000 during November and December 2013.[11][12] When Yanukovych fled the country, Manafort and Kilimnik gained employment with the pro-Russia Ukrainian party Opposition Bloc which is backed by the same oligarchs who backed Yanukovych.[5] At some point Opposition Bloc stopped paying Manafort's firm but even though the non-payment forced Manafort's firm to shut down their Kiev office, Kilimnik continued to advise the party while working to collect unpaid fees for Manafort's firm.[5]

Around 2010, Kilimnik collaborated with Rinat Akhmetshin when the Washington-based lobbyist was trying to sell a book disparaging one of Yanukovych's opponents.[8]

In 2017 Kilimnik helped Manafort write an op-ed for a Kiev newspaper. A journalist in Ukraine, Oleg Voloshyn, has disputed this, stating that he and Manafort wrote the op-ed and that he e-mailed the rough draft to Kilimnik.[13] The op-ed may have violated a gag order issued against Manafort by a US court and may have been a breach of Manafort's bail conditions.[2]

In 2018, media reported Kilimnik to be variously "described as a fixer, translator or office manager to President Donald Trump’s ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort.[14]

Mentions in court filings

Kilimnik has been reported by The New York Times to be the "Person A" in Court filings in December 2017 against Manafort and Rick Gates.[15]

Court filings in late March 2018 allege that he knew that Kilimnik was a former officer with the Russian military intelligence service. These came after Gates reached a plea deal in exchange for cooperation in the investigation.[16] The sentencing memo for Alex van der Zwaan filed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller states that Gates told van der Zwaan that Person A, believed to be Kilimnik,[17] was a former intelligence officer with the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU).[18]

Kilimnik also featured in the documents filed by Special Counsel Mueller in early December 2018 that explained why he believed Paul Manafort had lied to investigators during the investigation conducted by Mueller's team.[19][20]

Indictment

On June 8, 2018, Kilimnik was indicted by Special Counsel to the United States Robert Mueller on charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice, in conjunction with Paul Manafort,[21][4] regarding unregistered lobbying work.[22]

Connection to the Trump campaign

Through numerous regular email exchanges, Kilimnik conferred with Manafort after Manafort became Donald Trump's campaign manager in April 2016 and requested that Manafort give "private briefings" about the Trump campaign to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire and close ally to Vladimir Putin.[12][23][24] On August 2, 2016, Kilimnik met with Manafort and Rick Gates at the Grand Havana Room at 666 Fifth Avenue.[25] The encounter which, according to prosecutor Andrew Weissmann goes “very much to the heart of what the special counsel’s office is investigating,” included a handoff by Manafort of internal polling data from Trump’s presidential campaign to Kilimnik.[26] Gates later testified the three left the premises separately, each using different exits.[26]

According Mueller's court filings, Kilimnik was still working with Russian intelligence when, during September and October 2016, he was known to be communicating with the Trump campaign. Both Rick Gates and Paul Manafort were in contact with him at the time.[9] Manafort has said that he and Kilimnik discussed the Democratic National Committee cyber attack and release of emails, now known to be undertaken by Russian hacker groups known as Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear.[18]

Kilimnik and Manafort had been involved in the Pericles Fund together, an unsuccessful business venture financed by Oleg Deripaska.[8] In July 2016, Manafort told Kilimnik to offer Deripaska private information in exchange for resolving multimillion-dollar disputes about the venture.[8]

The New York Times reported on August 31, 2018, that an unnamed Russian political operative and a Ukrainian businessman had illegally purchased four tickets to the inauguration of Donald Trump on behalf of Kilimnik. The tickets, valued at $50,000, were purchased with funds that had flowed through a Cypriot bank account. The transaction was facilitated by Sam Patten, an American lobbyist who had related work with Paul Manafort and pleaded guilty to failing to register as a foreign agent.[27] Kilimnik attended Trump's inauguration.[28]

In January 2019, Manafort's lawyers submitted a filing to the court, in response to the Special Counsel's accusation that he had lied to investigators while supposedly co-operating with them. Through an error in redacting, the document accidentally revealed that while he was campaign chairman, Manafort met with Kilimnik, gave him polling data related to the 2016 campaign, and discussed a Ukranian peace plan with him. Most of the polling data was reportedly public, although some was private Trump campaign polling data. Manafort asked Kilimnik to pass the data to Ukrainians Serhiy Lyovochkin and Rinat Akhmetov.[29][30]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Bertrand, Natasha (29 March 2018). "The Shadowy Operative at the Center of the Russia Scandal". The Atlantic.
  2. ^ a b CNN, Katelyn Polantz and Evan Perez,. "Source: Mueller pushed for Gates' help on collusion". {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Gerstein, Josh (June 8, 2018). "Mueller hits Manafort with new indictment for alleged obstruction of justice". Politico. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ a b Mueller, Robert S. (June 8, 2018). "Case 1:17-cr-00201-ABJ Document 318". United States Department of Justice.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Vogel, Kenneth P. (18 August 2016). "Manafort's man in Kiev". Politico. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  6. ^ Christopher Miller (February 23, 2017). "Who Is Paul Manafort's Man In Kyiv? An Interview With Konstantin Kilimnik". rferl.org. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  7. ^ "The Absolute Soviet Man" at Proyekt (22 August 2018)
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Kramer, Andrew E. (7 April 2018). "He Says He's an Innocent Victim. Robert Mueller Says He's a Spy". The New York Times. p. A7. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  9. ^ a b c Fryer-Biggs, Zachary (29 March 2018). "Mueller just connected a top Trump campaign staffer to Russian intelligence - Vox". Vox. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  10. ^ a b Harding, Luke (2018-04-05). "Former Trump aide approved 'black ops' to help Ukraine president: Paul Manafort authorised secret media operation that sought to discredit key opponent of then Ukrainian president". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  11. ^ Leopold, Jason; Cormier, Anthony (October 29, 2017). "These 13 Wire Transfers Are A Focus Of The FBI Probe Into Paul Manafort: BuzzFeed News has learned of a series of wire transfers, made by companies linked to Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, that federal officials deemed suspicious. Many of the wires went from offshore companies controlled by Manafort to American businesses". BuzzFeed. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  12. ^ a b Moore, Jack (October 29, 2017). "Robert Mueller Probe: Manafort 'Suspicious' Wire Transfers Focus of FBI Trump-Russia Investigation". Newsweek. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  13. ^ Helderman, Rosalind S. (2017-12-05). "Ukrainian pundit says Paul Manafort did not 'ghostwrite' his pro-Manafort opinion piece". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  14. ^ "Russian charged with Trump’s ex-campaign chief was key figure in pro-Russia strategy", CNBC via Associated Press, July 3, 2018. Accessed January 26, 2018.
  15. ^ CNN, Katelyn Polantz and Evan Perez,. "Source: Mueller pushed for Gates' help on collusion". {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Helderman, Spencer S. Hsu and Rosalind S. "Manafort associate had Russian intelligence ties during 2016 campaign, prosecutors say".
  17. ^ "What this lawyer's guilty plea tells us about Mueller's investigation".
  18. ^ a b "Could an ex-Russian operative and an imprisoned escort crack open the Trump-Russia case?".
  19. ^ Prokop, Andrew (7 December 2018). "Read: Mueller's new filing accusing Paul Manafort of lying to the government". Vox. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  20. ^ Swaine, Jon; McCarthy, Tom (8 December 2018). "Cohen spoke with Russian to set up Trump-Putin meeting, Mueller reveals". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  21. ^ Harris, Andrew M.; Schoenberg, Tom; Baker, Stephanie (June 8, 2018). "Mueller Indicts Konstantin Kilimnik, Manafort's Ukraine Fixer". Bloomberg News. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)
  22. ^ Stone, Peter (9 November 2018). "Konstantin Kilimnik: elusive Russian with ties to Manafort faces fresh Mueller scrutiny". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 November 2018. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  23. ^ Bertrand, Natasha (September 21, 2017). "Paul Manafort's offer to brief a Putin ally about the campaign sheds new light on Russia's election interference". Business Insider. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  24. ^ Hamburger, Tom; Helderman, Rosalind S.; Leoning, Carol D.; Entous, Adam (September 20, 2017). "Manafort offered to give Russian billionaire 'private briefings' on 2016 campaign". Washington Post. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  25. ^ LaFraniere, Sharon; Vogel, Kenneth P.; Shane, Scott (February 10, 2019). "In Closed Hearing, a Clue About 'the Heart' of Mueller's Russia Inquiry" – via NYTimes.com.
  26. ^ a b Helderman, Rosalind S.; Hamburger, Tom (February 12, 2019). "How Manafort's 2016 contact with Russian goes to 'heart' of Mueller's probe". Washington Post.
  27. ^ "Lobbyist Pleads Guilty to Steering Foreign Funds to Trump Inaugural". Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  28. ^ "Russian-Ukrainian Operative Was at Trump Inauguration, Filing Shows". Reuters. February 7, 2019. Retrieved February 8, 2019 – via VOANews.com.
  29. ^ Polantz, Katelyn (January 8, 2019). "Mueller believes Manafort fed information to Russian with intel ties". CNN. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  30. ^ LaFraniere, Sharon; Vogel, Kenneth P.; Haberman, Maggie (8 January 2019). "Manafort Accused of Sharing Trump Polling Data With Russian Associate". Retrieved 9 January 2019 – via NYTimes.com.

Further reading

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