Spy with the code name Krasnov? New KGB accusation against Trump

t-online Spy with the code name Krasnov? New KGB accusation against Trump Bastian Brauns • 6 hours • 8 minutes reading time KGB code name "Krasnow"? An explosive claim about Trump A former KGB officer claims that Donald Trump was recruited by the Soviet secret service in 1987. What is behind the sensational accusation? Suspicions that have existed for years against Donald Trump because of alleged connections to Russian secret services are gaining new momentum: A former Soviet secret service officer publicly claims that Trump was recruited by the KGB almost 40 years ago. The claim comes from Alnur Mussajew, who made a career in his native Kazakhstan after the end of the USSR. He says: After being recruited, Trump was registered with the KGB under the code name "Krasnow". Musayev's statements are part of a history of repeated claims that have never been proven. They are currently falling on particularly fertile ground. Trump's actions - domestic and foreign policy - are causing outrage and criticism: Suspicions that have existed for years against Donald Trump because of alleged connections to Russian secret services are gaining new momentum: a former Soviet secret service officer publicly claims that Trump was recruited by the KGB almost 40 years ago. The claim comes from Alnur Musayev, who made a career in his homeland of Kazakhstan after the end of the USSR. He says that after being recruited, Trump was codenamed "Krasnov" by the KGB. Musayev's statements are part of a history of repeated claims that have never been proven. They are currently falling on particularly fertile ground. Because Trump's actions - domestic and foreign policy - provoke outrage and criticism: Democrats, the media, civil society and Republicans who are opposed to Trump accuse him of wanting to turn the USA into an authoritarian state. With regard to his Ukraine policy, Trump has recently repeatedly adopted narratives and demands from the Russian government. For example, he has repeatedly described the Ukrainian president as a dictator and called on him to hold new elections in the middle of the war. But in Musayev's home country of Kazakhstan there are doubts about his portrayal. In the USA, the magazine "Daily Beast" deleted an article about the story a few hours after it was published. But who is the man who is apparently making these specific accusations with such fearlessness? Could there be something to the story? Strange events in Austria The explosive information can be found in a post by Mussajew on Facebook - and in truth it is not entirely new: Mussajew links to a similar post from 2018. The Kazakh secret service agent is now 71 years old. And his name is causing a stir, at least in Austria: Thanks to Mussajew, the Alpine country has already become the venue for Kazakh secret service operations around him. It was about an attempt to kidnap Mussajew in July 2008. With the help of his chauffeur, he and his injured companion were able to escape. The assumption: Mussajew was to be forcibly brought to Kazakhstan because he and his friend Rachat Alijew, former ambassador of Kazakhstan and ex-son-in-law of Kazakhstan's then President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Vienna, had fallen out of favor in their homeland. There were murder allegations against both of them from Kazakhstan, but Austria had refused to extradite them. It also did not believe the accusations from Kazakhstan in a trial against Musayev: acquittal. In the trial against his thwarted kidnappers, it was then mentioned that one of the perpetrators was a young Kazakh from Germany and the man behind it was a counselor at the Kazakh embassy in Berlin. This is how Musayev claims to have obtained the Trump information Musayev is still wanted in his homeland for high treason. From 1997 onwards, he headed Kazakhstan's national domestic intelligence service (KNB). The KNB was set up after the collapse of the USSR, with people from the former KGB. Musayev joined this service in 1979 at the age of 25. His work apparently also led the agent on a two-year special mission to Iraq in the mid-1980s. When he returned from there, he claims to have gained the explosive information about Trump in a new role. According to the Russian newspaper "Lenta", he worked in the headquarters of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs from 1986 to 1989. He himself writes in his article that he worked in the 6th Department of the KGB in Moscow. One of his main tasks there was recruiting spies and sources among businessmen from capitalist countries. "It was the year in which our department recruited a 40-year-old businessman from the USA - Donald Trump," writes Mussayev. Criticism from his homeland, silence in Russia In addition to US media, Ukrainian media picked up on Mussayev's accounts. In Russian media, however, there is silence about his claims. In his homeland of Kazakhstan, a pro-Russian historian and political scientist is railing against him. The news of Mussayev is a "global circus show," explains Daniyar Ashimbajew in the newspaper "Kursiv". It raises more questions than it answers. Ashimbayev is considered a supporter of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Ashimbayev claims that the 6th Directorate was responsible for economic security and not for recruiting foreigners. However, it is difficult to argue about this today: "Musayev can claim that this was a secret part of his work," says Ashimbayev. The Kazakh publicist turns the tables, however: Perhaps Musayev just wanted to make himself important. But it could also be about political motives: "Perhaps he was asked by one of his European contacts to be his henchman." Is the former secret service man still a pawn? Musayev's political position seems clear, in any case. "Kazakhs must support Ukraine in the war against the occupiers, it is fighting for Kazakhstan's freedom!" wrote Musayev in a Facebook review of the Ukrainian embassy in Kazakhstan. The accusations: Trump as "Krasnov" His page has already provided details about the alleged agent Trump in the past. What is new is that he uses the code name "Krasnov". In previous posts, however, he had already revealed alleged details: The KGB had targeted Trump during his visit to Moscow and Leningrad in 1987 and encouraged him to go into politics. Musayev also indicated that Trump's personal file had been removed from the archives of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), a KGB successor organization. It is now in the possession of a close confidant of Vladimir Putin. Musayev has also reported on previous assassination attempts against him and suggested that his knowledge of this sensitive information would put him in danger. Musayev himself is aware of how unbelievable the story actually is: "In the activities of the intelligence services, as in life, anything is possible, even the wildest and most unbelievable things. For example, the recruitment of future heads of state and even the President of the United States." The Hollywood film industry is full of such comparable stories. "But to assume that the President of the United States is a spy and agent of influence of an enemy state is beyond even Hollywood," wrote Musayev. A pattern of similar accusations Musayev is not the first former Soviet intelligence officer to point to Trump as a Russian agent. For example, Oleg Kalugin, a former KGB general, has already claimed that Trump was on the intelligence agency's radar in the 1980s. According to Kalugin, who was once the boss of the then young KGB officer Vladimir Putin, compromising material may have been created during his visit to Moscow. "It would not surprise me if the Russians - and Trump knows about it - have files on him during his trip to Russia and his involvement in meetings with young ladies who were controlled [by the Soviet secret service]," Kalugin once said. The renowned American historian Timothy Snyder also wrote in his book "The Road to Bondage" that Trump's 1987 trip to Moscow was paid for by the Soviet state. Trump was put up in a suite that was certainly bugged, according to Snyder. In 1986, Trump was courted by Russian diplomats and a bright future awaited him in Moscow. The purchase and sale of apartments in his Moscow Trump Tower was used by Russian criminals to launder money. Yuri Shvets, a former KGB officer who now lives in the USA, has also claimed that the Soviet Union "cultivated" Trump by appealing to his ego and business ambitions. Shvets claims that Trump's early business relationships with Soviet figures such as Semion "Sam" Kislin may have further deepened his ties to the Russian secret service. In any case, according to witnesses, Trump got involved with figures of the Russian mafia for decades while in a financially disastrous situation. Timothy Snyder goes on to write in his book that in 2008, Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev gave Trump $55 million in an unusual real estate deal. In 2016, Rybolovlev appeared in several places where Trump was campaigning. Trump's Moscow visit and KGB tactics Trump's first visit to Moscow in 1987 has long been seen as a turning point in his life. Indeed, the KGB often used such trips to evaluate and recruit potential assets by offering them business opportunities and other incentives. According to a report by US magazine Politico, a secret KGB letter from the 1980s advised agents to approach "prominent figures in the West" and persuade them to cooperate as "agents" or "special contacts." When it comes to Trump's strange relationship with Russia, speculation often arises as to whether Trump had already made himself vulnerable to blackmail or otherwise surrendered to the Soviet Union at the time. After his trip to Moscow, it was noticeable that Trump suddenly took out full-page newspaper ads in major American publications criticizing US foreign policy and NATO in particular - a move that some repeatedly suspected was influenced by Trump's interactions with Soviet officials. These are positions that Trump has repeatedly represented for decades up to the present day. Russia investigations in Trump's first presidency The allegations about Trump's connections to Russia were, however, already investigated in detail during his first presidency as part of an investigative committee. The so-called Mueller report for the impeachment proceedings concluded that Trump's campaign team had numerous contacts with Russian officials. However, a conspiracy could not be proven. However, the bipartisan report of the Senate Intelligence Committee from 2020 at least concluded that Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort had shared internal polling data with a Russian intelligence officer, raising concerns about indirect influence. Despite these findings, Trump has always denied any illicit connection to Russia. He has dismissed the allegations as a purely politically motivated "witch hunt" and a "Russia hoax". Trump has repeatedly asserted that his relationships with Russian personalities are purely business-related. The new allegations quickly made the rounds in the US on Friday through an article on the British website "Byline Times" and an article by a freelance journalist from "The Daily Beast", a US online magazine known for its revelations. But after several hours, the text disappeared from the website on Friday around 8 p.m. German time without explanation. "The Daily Beast" had previously asked the White House for a statement.