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UPDATE 2: Wall Street Journal has further investigated these links. New thread here:UPDATE: A couple of posters have falsely accused this of being fake news. They are mistaken, as the entirety of the information here is simply proven factual information. However, they may be correct in their assertion that my title is misleading, which is unintentional and only a result of limited characters in NeoGAF titles, and perhaps an assumption of my intention to publish lots of little bits of information relating to the subject. Perhaps a better title would thus be: "MotherJones publishes new interview with Sergei Millian, who now dubiously denies having a substantive business relationship with Trump, with detailed timeline for context (to give readers a chance to draw their own conclusions about an important national affair)".On Thursday, MotherJones reported fresh research into links between Trump and Russiaparticularly his mysterious dealings with the evasive Sergei Millian, who in 2011 serviced in some capacity an FBI-investigated Russian Foreign Ministry intelligence-gathering program.Sergei Millian is an underreported but key link between Trump (and Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen) and Putin's credibly suspected machinations to seek compromising intelligence from Americans.Expectedly, Millian has in the past half-year attempted to purge his ties to Trump from the Internet but now, this past week, has finallyI couldn't see this posted yet on GAF. I also did some research and translated some facts and dates from this and a couple of other articles into an exhaustive, cohesive timeline, especially for those who don't have a good grasp of the whole picture. (This took me 7 hours to compile.) I believe that this information is of critical importance in understanding the current known links to potential Russian intelligence-gathering.If you're already well-informed on this topic, please skip to the 2017 section (second post) for the "new news".is a player in a larger web of controversial business ties between Trump, the, and Russia. He is president of thein the USA () and the owner of a translation service. Millian's online bio notes he graduated from the Minsk State Linguistic University with the equivalent of a master's degree in 2000. His bio says he is a real estate broker who works in residential and commercial properties in the United States and abroad.[2]He used to go by the name Siarhei Kukuts (tr: Sergei Kukut)that's how he's listed on tax returns for the RACCand it is unclear why he changed his name. Social media accounts on Facebook and Russian social network Vkontakte link him to family by the name "Kukut" in Belarus, and his page on the website for the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce (RACC) gives the name "Sergei Millian" as an alias. I am US citizen and do not have and never had Russian citizenship. When immigrants arrive to USA, it is a common practice to change their name, he told The Daily Beast in an email. He is in his late 30s and won't say when he came to the United States or how he obtained US citizenship.[1][2]Internet posts from Millians early years in the U.S. use his former name, and hint as his early role as a Russian-speaking fixer who brokered deals for Russian businesses. I can recommend a savvy canadian lawyer (speaks Russian), who only for $2500 consulate fees can arrange your immigration to Canada, Millian boasted in one.[1]Since first meeting Trump, Millian has built a reputation on a series of exaggerations, to become a cross between a translator, a property merchant, and a pro-Trump spin doctor for the Russian press. In recent years he has evolved into a regular pundit on behalf of Trump, in Russian media, and even to The Daily Beast as recently as July, 2016.[1]Trump has been seeking opportunities to develop buildings in Russia since the 1980s, during the Soviet eranone of which have been fruitful. However, they have led to a number of business connections.[1]Trump has been. He wrote in the Art of the Deal in 1987 that he visited Moscow for the first time that year, with then-wife Ivana, to scope out sites for luxury hotels he hoped to build in a joint venture with the then-Soviet government's hotel and tourism agency. He visited again with U.S. tobacco executives in 1996; that deal got far enough that an architect drew conceptual drawings but did not come to fruition.[3][4]Part of the allure was what Trump and his associates saw as a huge opportunity  the chance to market American-style luxury apartments to the wealthy elite in a place that still mostly offered utilitarian Soviet-style construction.[4]Trump signed a one-year deal in 2005 with a New York real estate company called theto try, again, to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. In a 2007 deposition, Bayrock executive(a Russian immigrant with an interestingback story) testified that he hadfor the project, as well as a site, a shuttered pencil factory named for U.S. communists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.Sater testified that after trips to Russia, he would pop my head into Mr. Trumps office and tell him, you know, Moving forward on the Moscow deal. And he would say, All right. That effort fizzled too.[3]Trump claimed (in a later court proceeding) that.[4]Partners of one of Trumps projects then under construction in Panama visited Moscow to sell condos at the building in 2006.[3]The aforementioned, a nonprofit that Millian started in[2], has survived on shoestring budgets, advocates closer commercial ties between Russia and the United States, and assists US firms looking to do business in Russia. Its website notes that it "facilitates cooperation for U.S. members with the Russian Government, Russian Regional Administrations, U.S. Consulates in Russia, Chambers of Commerce in Russia, and corporate leaders from CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] countries."[2]Trump promised, in a 2007 court deposition, that he had not given up on Moscow. Russia is one of theplaces in the world for investment. . . ., he said.[3]Millian's friends had organised a Trump trip to thein 2007, where he wasAccording to one Moscow-based American businessman who negotiated with him, Trumps admiration for Putin was"He was looking to make friends and business partners among Russias politically connected elite. , explains the real estate developer, who requested anonymity because of his ongoing Russian investments.[7]to horse races at Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino, in Miami, Florida (pictured above).That encounter led to a meeting with Trump attorney(since) and, allegedly, an exclusive contract for dealing Trump properties in Russia and nearby nations. "Later," Millian said, "we met at his office in New York, where he introduced me to his right-hand manMichael Cohen. He is Trump's main lawyer, all contracts go through him. Subsequently,andsigned a contract with me[/B] to promote one of their real estate projects in Russia and the CIS. You can say I was their exclusive broker."[1][2] Millian said he had helped Trump "study the Moscow market" for potential real estate investments.[2]In October, Trump told Larry King on CNN, "Look at Putin -- what he's doing with Russia -- I mean, you know, what's going on over there. I mean this guy has done -- whether you like him or don't like him --in rebuilding the image of Russia and alsoperiod,"[5]Then, in the 2007-2008 years,, Millian bragged to RIA. But I wouldnt want to disclose concrete sums or names.[1][2]Trump made significant money from one Russian oligarch in 2008, when he sold a mansion in Palm Beach for $95 million to Russian billionaire. Trump had bought the home at a bankruptcy auction less than four years earlier for $41.4 million.[3]said, at a 2008 real estate conference in New York,He added, "We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia."[1][2]The Russian market had natural strength, especially in the high-end sector." Moscow held special appeal because wealthy people throughout the region wanted to own real estate in the capital city, he said.[4]In his 2008 speech,. But, he said, Russia presented enormous challenges.As much as, Russia is just a different world, the younger Trump said. It is a question of.[4]Concurrently, Sergei Millians online biography prominently bragged that he had worked as a broker for projects with Donald Trump.[1]In the April 2009 issue of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce newsletter, Millian, as president, reported that he was working with Russian investors looking to buy property in the United States, and he said, "We have signed formal agreements with the, theandto jointly service the Russian clients' commercial, residential and industrial real estate needs."[1][2]In 2009,"to foster necessary political changes to produce a healthier economic environment" and.[2]RACC'sreported the group was based in an apartment in[2]though the group's letterhead that year listed a[2]and that year it brought in only $23,300 in contributions and grants and $14,748 in program revenue. The tax return noted that the chamber "successfully hosted four universities from Russia in New York City" and hosted a trade mission from Belarus.[2]In December,and "no-nonsense way" in his book "Time to Get Tough."for Russia. He wants to edge out its neighbors so that Russia can," Trump said. "I respect Putin and Russians but cannot believe our leader (Obama) allows them to get away with so much...."[5]Trump made millions when he agreed to bring the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow in 2013, a deal financed in part by the development company of a Russian billionaire, awho is sometimes called the Trump of Russia because of his tendency to put his own name on his buildings.("Will he become my new best friend?" Trump asked of Putin in a tweet wondering whether Putin would attendhe didn't but offered him a traditional gift.[6]At the time, Trump mingled with the Russian business elite at a swanky after-party. Almost all of the oligarchs were in the room, Trump bragged to Real Estate Weekly on returning home.[4]Agalarov told The Washington Post that.[3]Agalarov's son, Russian pop musician Emin Agalarov, said, He kept saying, Every time there is friction between United States and Russia, its bad for both countries. For the people to benefit, this should be fixed. We should be friends,  Emin Agalarov recalled.[4]The Agalarovs are wealthy developers who have received several contracts for (although not yet made money from) state-funded construction projects, a sign of their closeness to the Putin government. Shortly, Putin awarded the elder Agalarov the , a prestigious designation[4] (an award coincidentally also received by Exxon CEO, that same year).[6]Millian apparently was proud of his association with Trump. In 2014, heof him with, the billionaire real estate developer in Miami who owns. (Pictured above, photographed in 2007)In 2015,.[2]Putin said in December that Trump was a colorful and talented person, a compliment that Trump said at the time was an honour.[4](April)On Millian's LinkedIn page, he notes he is also the, a group that has only a slight presence on the internet and that seems to have an. According to a LinkedIn post published by Millian in April 2016, he met that month in Beijing with a Chinese official and the Russian ambassador to the Republic of San Marino to discuss industrial and commercial cooperation between China and Russia.[2]Millianto promote their properties in Russia. In a lengthy interview with RIA News, a Russian language outlet, in April, Millian boasted aboutat the Moscow Millionaires Fair in 2007. Millian said hedWhen RIA News asked him this year about fears that America might go up in flames in the case of a Trump presidency, Millian remained a true believer.But the April interview was unusual in that it focused on Millians supposed personal relationship with Trump. Typically, hes billed as a political scientist or economics expert when he spins for Trump., and parrotted the Republican nominees talk about keeping jobs in the U.S.[1]In the interview,. Trump, he noted, would improve US relations with Russia and. He said: "" Millian added, "In general Trump has a very positive attitude to Russians, because. Incidentally, he has done many projects with people from the Russian-language diaspora. For example,." (Sapir, who died in 2014, was an American billionaire real estate developer.)[2]The, attended Trumps April foreign policy speech in which Trump called for ending this horrible cycle of hostility between the two nations (breaking from a tradition in which diplomats steer clear of domestic politics).A spokesman for the Russian Embassy said that the Ambassador's attendance at the Trump speech should not be considered an indication that Russia is partial to Trump.[4]Emin Agalarov said, "[Trump] keeps underlining that. This could be an amazing breakthrough.(June)In another article in June,Trump mostly interacts with business or military people, he said. Thats why his vice-president will be a representative of one of these two camps: either someone who came from the corporate world, or the military.[1](July)Donald Trump is presidential, powerful, charismatic, and highly intelligent leader with. Im am glad to see Donald, Millian said last month during the Republican National Convention, after The Daily Beast reached out to the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce.I, personally, wholeheartedly support his presidential aspirations..I think he will be able to improve some processes in the government, because its currently very bureaucratic, he said. For instance, this concerns medicine. In the USA people smile at you well, but the level of accessibility and wait time here is behind many countries.In July,He works well in his post and gets by without scandals, Millian said then. Opponents will find it hard to find fault in his reputation and work.[1](August)With escalating media interest in Trumps ties with Russia,Millian told The Daily Beast last week he had.[1]After inquiries from The Daily Beast,.[1]It also appears thatworking with the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce in the USA were at some point.[1][2]He has recently played down his relationship with Trump. There had been quite negative press related to Russia so I dont want to be involved, he told The Daily Beast when first reached by phone. , he continued, saying that heThere are several brokers who work on such real estate projects I do remember there was a written agreement that authorized me to market one of the projects bearing his name signed somewhere around 2008.He praised Trumps knowledge of other cultures by noting he offered him a glass of champagne upon closing a business deala nod to the notion that Russians like to drink.[1]It was a Trump-like move: brag about ties to a project when it could be advantageous; but then brand it as tangential any link to the project if it starts to show sign of controversy.[1](October)In October, theand the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce. It reported:[2]YURY ZAYTSEV & ROSSOTRUDNICHESTVOAs part of its inquiry into Millian, the Financial Times pointed to, a Russian government organization that. Millian has collaborated with Rossotrudnichestvo.Through cultural exchanges, Rossotrudnichestvo, which operates under the, was bringing. The program was run by, a Russian diplomat who headed the, DC.In 2011, Millian (and the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce) worked with Zaytsev and the Russian group to mount athatand the Vladimir region, according toafter the initiative. In that letter,, and he added, "My entire staff, fellow participants, and I, here at the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce in the USA, very much look forward towith the preparations for next year's trip." (Millian now says, "We are not affiliated with [Rossotrudnichestvo] in any way.")In 2013, Mother Jones reported thatAmericans who participated in the exchange trips and weretold Mother Jones that the agents' questions indicated(An asset could be a person who directly works with an intelligence service to gather information, or merely a contact who provides, not realizing it is being collected by an intelligence officer.)After Mother Jones published a story on the FBI investigation,: "All such 'scaring information' very much resembles Cold War era. A blunt tentative is made to distort and toin DC, which are aimed at developing mutual trust and cooperation between our peoples and countries."A year later, in November 2014,spoke at a Moscow press conference and said, in reference to the upcoming US presidential elections, "It seems to me that" He added,