Who is June 2016 Trump Tower Meeting Attendee Rinat Akhmetshin

Rinat Akhmetshin is a Soviet-born naturalized American pro-Russia lobbyist who served in the Soviet Army working with a counterintelligence unit. He has with a long history of advancing the Kremlin’s interests in Washington and working for Vladimir Putin allies – including two separate projects working for Russian billionaires close to Putin who were accused of hacking their adversaries’ computers. Akhmetshin was present at the June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting where Donald Trump Jr. was led to believe that he would get damaging information about Hillary Clinton from a “Russian government attorney.”¹²

Akhmetshin is the head of the Human Rights Accountability Global Initiative Foundation (HRAGIF), which he co-founded in February 2016 with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya. HRAGIF’s goal is to repeal the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 U.S. law that bars Russians suspected of human rights abuses from entering the U.S. and freezes their foreign assets.³⁴⁵ Many Russians affected by the Magnitsky Act are connected to the Russian government, and much of Putin’s wealth is believed to be tied up in those assets. In retaliation for the Magnitsky Act Putin stopped the American adoption of Russian children.⁶ Prevezon Holdings, a Russian company that U.S. District Attorney Preet Bharara took to court in 2013 over Russian money laundering allegations, is allegedly behind the organization’s lobbying efforts.⁷ One of Prevezon’s parters was Lev Leviev, a Soviet-born Israeli diamond mogul, real estate tycoon, and personal friend of Vladimir Putin, whose close business associate Rotem Rosen is also a personal friend and business associate of Donald Trump.⁸

Veselnitskaya was the Russian attorney that Trump Jr. agreed to meet with at Trump Tower; she invited Akhmetshin to attend the meeting as well. Akhmetshin said Veselnitskaya brought documents to the meeting that detailed what she characterized as illicit funds flowing to the Democrats, but as she did not have sufficient evidence to back up her claims Trump Jr. quickly lost interest. Veselnitskaya then proceeded to discuss the Magnitsky Act, which also reportedly did not interest Trump Jr. Akhmetshin said Veselnitskaya left behind a document with the Trump associates describing the allegations: “It was corporate stuff – lawyerly stuff.”⁹¹⁰

Akhmetshin has said he is a longtime acquaintance of Trump 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort. A spokesman for Manafort however has said “Paul doesn’t know and hasn’t worked with the man.”¹¹

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Who is Rinat Akhmetshin

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