Fact verification: Donald Trump was recruited by the KGB and was appointed “Krasnov” code?

Alnur Mussayev’s statement, the former KGB officer, that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, was recruited as a Moscow asset in the 1980s, caused a storm on social networks.

Numa publication On Facebook, dated February 20, Mussayev said that Trump was recruited by KGB in 1987 during a trip to Moscow when he was 40 years old, and assigned to him by the The no “Krasnov” code

Trump did not respond directly to Mussayev’s statements. The president of the United States has repeatedly denied having worked for Russia.

A series of X publications, which has accumulated more than one million opinions, refers to Trump as “Krasnov” and classifies the president of the United States as a Russian asset. The “publication” lists a series of statements that arises as alleged evidence of this statement.

However, other users on social networks have moved to parody, with an account to publish a Trump’s photographic assembly dressed in a KGB fact, Showing its political slogan and the acronym Maga (“Make American Great Again”), but with a different meaning: “Moscow agent that governs America” ​​(“Moscow agent to govern America” ​​in Portuguese).

Krasnov is a common nickname in Russia, derived from the word “Krasniy”, which means red.

There were a series of speculative reports in the media, and some politicians, including the British conservative deputy Graham Stuart, repeated the statement, writing in X: “We have to consider the possibility that President Trump is a Russian asset.”

Does the statement have any relevance?

Mussayev did not provide any evidence to support the claims that Trump was recruited by the KGB during his visit to Moscow.

Questions were also released on the position Mussayev says he had occupied in KGB.

In the Facebook publication, the former Kazakhstan Espionage Chief claims to have worked at the 6th KGB Board. However, sources such as the encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency say that this department did not focus on the “recruitment of foreign intelligence services”, but on the “Protection against economic espionage”.

Euroverify cannot verify accusations that Trump is a Russian asset.

The amplification of social media accusations probably intensified by the position of the president of the United States on foreign policy, which has been seen as favorable to Russia.

By removing the support of the Biden Administration to Ukraine, the Trump executive suspended military aid and the exchange of information with kyiv.

This measure was followed by a public discussion between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a very controversial meeting in the Oval Room last month.

Trump’s trip to Moscow in 1987

Similar accusations about Trump were a Russian asset emerged repeatedly in the past. In 2021, the American journalist and author Craig Unger published the book “American Kompromat”, in which he states that Trump was recruited by Moscow.

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The former KGB Yuri Shvets, who had a facade job as a correspondent for the Russian state news agency Tass in Washington during the 1980s, was one of the main sources of Unger for the book. Shvets told Unger that Trump was contacted in 1987.

Unger told Euronews that there is a clear distinction between what it means to be an agent and an asset.

“While an agent is an intelligence agency and is paid, an asset is a trusted friend who makes favors,” he explained.

In the book of Unger, Shvets states that when Trump opened his first important real estate development, the Grand Hyatt New York Hotel, in 1980, bought 200 televisions from the Joy-Lud Electronics store, owned by an emigrated Soviet citizen.

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Shvets said the store was a KGB facade and that at that time Trump had already been identified as an active potential.

In 1987, Trump traveled to Moscow, where Shvets says that the now president of the United States was heard to the KGB.

After his return, Trump bought three entire page ads criticizing the foreign policy of the United States in three important American newspapers, with a total cost of $ 94,801 (87,150 euros at the time of writing this article).

In his 1987 book, “The art of negotiation”, The American businessman also mentioned the possibility of opening a Trump building in Moscow.

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“Trump had already served as an issue for tabloids in the American press, but when he returned from Russia, he began to present himself as an experienced foreign policy analyst,” said Unger to Euronews.

Mueller 2019 report: An investigation into Trump’s ties with Russia

Trump’s ties with Russia were investigated in Mueller’s investigation, published in 2019, which was commissioned by the United States Department of Justice and examined the Russian interference in the American elections of 2016.

Although “links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign”, the report did not “establish that Trump campaign members conspired or coordinated with the Russian government as part of their electoral interference activities.”

“I never worked for Russia” Trump said, when a journalist asked him about his ties with the country in 2019.

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“It’s a shame, even you ask this question. Everything is a great scam, ”he added.