It was a winter’s night in Moscow, yet as the sushi was served Donald Trump felt the warm glow of friendship, and the comforting thought of business deals to be done.

Nobu had been shut that night in November 2013 by its franchise owner Aras Agalarov – a billionaire kindred spirit to Mr Trump, who, like his Manhattan friend, possessed an enviable property empire and wanted more. The two men had brought the Miss Universe pageant – owned by Mr Trump – to Moscow, at an events hall owned by Mr Agalarov. Furthermore, the two were in talks to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, right next to the Agalarov tower.

Mr Agalarov, dubbed the "Donald Trump of Russia", invited his friends to the dinner – among them Herman Gref, the chief executive officer of state-controlled Sberbank PJSC, Russia’s biggest bank, and a man who was Mr Putin’s economy minister until 2007.

“The Russian market is attracted to me,” Mr Trump told a real estate magazine shortly after returning to the United States. “Almost all of the oligarchs were in the room.”