Kremlev linked to group sanctioned for child abduction, deportation
President Trump said Friday in the Oval Office that Donald Trump Jr. has repaid Russian businessman Umar Kremlev for financing a two-day wedding afterparty held on exclusive islands in the Bahamas earlier this year. “I understand that Don has paid him back,” Trump told reporters, referring to his son. A person close to Donald Trump Jr. confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that Kremlev was reimbursed.
The Russian-funded wedding afterparty prompted bipartisan backlash, with lawmakers and even some allies of the president criticizing the arrangement. Sen. John Curtis (R., Utah) posted a video on social media this week saying the Russian payment “just stinks” and referred to the arrangement as “corruption.”
Kremlev’s financing of the afterparty was first reported by ProPublica. After the reports surfaced, Donald Trump Jr. and his new wife Bettina confirmed the payments, defending them as a gift from a generous friend. “We were and remain incredibly grateful,” they wrote earlier this week in a statement posted on Instagram.
The couple pushed back against criticism of the payment. “It’s unfortunate that something so personal and happy can be recast as something political or sinister simply because of who someone is,” they wrote, adding, “Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda.”
Trump told reporters on Friday that he had spoken to Donald Trump Jr. about the afterparty. “He said, ‘No, I’m paying it back, Dad,’” Trump said of his son, defending the arrangement as “totally allowed” and contending it is common for couples to have their wedding parties paid for. President Trump and first lady Melania Trump did not attend the wedding or the afterparty.
Photos of the event showed guests dancing under disco balls, a multitiered white cake topped with figurines of a bride and groom, and Donald Trump Jr. holding his new wife in his arms as fireworks erupted in the background. One photo showed a DJ stand painted white with black text reading “B & D” — for Bettina and Donald.
Kremlev has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and has been sanctioned by Ukraine, which accuses him of acting as a conduit of Russian influence. He joined the Night Wolves, Russia’s most prominent motorcycle club, which sought to boost nationalism and public support for Putin following the first round of Western sanctions imposed on Moscow after its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
Kremlev is also associated with the organization Healthy Fatherland, which has been sanctioned by Ukraine for its role in the mass abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia.