Μake us preferred on Google Donald Trump Jr stood on stage with a wide smile as an auctioneer sold off the chance to join him on a week-long hunting trip in western Mongolia.
“Will you beat $225,000? I’m giving you a bargain,” the auctioneer said. To encourage higher bids at the charity fundraiser, Trump Jr offered to throw in a stay at Mar-a-Lago and joked with the audience: “I’m very sexy in camo.”
The auction winners were not Trump Jr’s only companions in the Mongolian wilderness this summer. He also spent two days with Umar Kremlev, a businessman with a criminal record who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personal security service.
The remote rendezvous in August highlights the remarkable relationship between a son of the US president and a businessman with ties to the Kremlin.
The details of Trump Jr and Kremlev’s activities in Mongolia were confirmed by guides and local officials, along with flight-tracking data, social media posts and public records reviewed by the FT.
Donald Trump Jr, center, speaks with guests as they wait for a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. embassy staff at Deerfield Residence in Dublin, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
A guide said that during the trip, Trump Jr killed one Altai argali — an endangered sheep prized for its huge horns. The president’s son has shot at least two other argali on hunting trips in Mongolia since 2019.
“Don has made clear that he has a personal friendship, not a business relationship, with Umar,” said a spokesperson, adding that they were first introduced by a mutual friend in the hunting world.
“Their friendship is largely based on their shared love for hunting, fishing and the outdoors. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that they went hunting together earlier this year,” the spokesperson added.
But intelligence experts say such relationships are ripe for manipulation.
“It really doesn’t matter if people have the most above board intentions,” said Holden Triplett, who was counter-intelligence director on the US National Security Council during the president’s first term. “The moment the Russian security and intelligence services figure out someone has a relationship with anyone of high value, they will try to weaponise that.”
The Mongolia meeting came after Kremlev attended and paid for some of Trump Jr’s wedding celebrations on a private Caribbean island in May. The Russian’s role in Trump Jr’s wedding was first reported by ProPublica, after which the president said his son had repaid Kremlev.
Trump Jr flew into Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, in late August and travelled hundreds of miles to a camp in Uvs province, where he settled in with a small number of hunting guides, drivers and cooks.
As a member of the president’s family, Trump Jr travels with a protective Secret Service detail. Federal records show the US embassy in Ulaanbaatar paid $18,715 in hotel rooms for an unspecified Secret Service “visit” from August 23 to September 6.
On August 27, Kremlev — who is the president of the International Boxing Association — left an IBA press conference in Kazakhstan and flew overnight to Ulaanbaatar on a chartered jet. He then travelled west to Trump Jr’s camp.
He was accompanied by Arthur Martirosov, a Russian businessman who is a partner in Voskhod, a US-sanctioned venture capital fund.
Kremlev and Martirosov did not respond to the FT’s requests for comment.
A local on the trip told the FT that Trump Jr and Kremlev were cautious about being photographed together while in Trump Jr’s camp.
Kremlev posted his own video on Telegram, showing his group preparing for a hunt around sunrise. Trump Jr is not featured, although two of his hunting organisers appear.
Kremlev’s path to wealth was built on his proximity to power. Born Umar Lutfulloyev, he was convicted of extortion and battery in his young adult years, according to leaked criminal records obtained by the FT.
In 2010, he changed his ethnic Tajik surname to the more Russian Kremlev — meaning “of the Kremlin” — turning a new page as a successful boxing promoter, navigating a social milieu of biker gangs, police and eventually the upper levels of the security establishment.
He became head of the Russian Boxing Federation in 2017 and was elected president of the IBA in 2020, bringing with him a large sponsorship from state-backed Gazprom. The role has taken Kremlev around the globe, including as part of Putin’s delegation to China in May of this year.
Kremlev and Trump Jr’s first known encounter was at an IBA event in Istanbul last year. While on stage with legendary Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao, Trump Jr called Kremlev “not only a leader, but a friend”.
The event also celebrated Kaan Karakaya, a Turkish hunting organiser who has arranged Trump Jr’s Mongolia trips. At the event, Kremlev appointed Karakaya the “official IBA representative” of Turkey.
“Kaan has been a bridge between worlds, a friend who brings people together,” Kremlev said.
After spending two days in camp with Trump Jr, Kremlev returned to Ulaanbaatar and departed for another IBA fight in the Siberian city of Yakutsk.
“Let me tell you: the mountains are amazing,” Kremlev says in a video as he exits a helicopter. “We’ve been so active that we basically haven’t slept.”
Trump Jr stayed for another week, travelling from Uvs province to Bayan-Ölgii to hunt the less-endangered Altai ibex, a native species of wild goat.
Safari Club International, which hosted Trump Jr on stage at the charity auction in January 2025, confirmed one of its two winners joined him on the ibex hunt.
Another guest was Kevin Small, a longtime Republican donor who has hunted with Trump Jr before. Photos from a different charity auction show Small signing paperwork alongside Karakaya. The winning bid was $140,000.
Lauren White, from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that selling a trip with the president’s son raised ethical questions.
“Buying access to power is an ethics concern, whether it’s through a charity, a wedding, a campaign donation or a lavish gift,” she said.
The group in Bayan-Ölgii was also joined by Dastan Mukhamedrakhim, a Kazakh travel influencer, who posted a video of their adventures in the Mongolian mountains.
After hunting ibex and posing with a golden eagle, Trump Jr travelled back to the capital. But his trip was not over — while in Ulaanbaatar, he traded his camo gear for a suit and held a series of meetings.
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One was a dinner with Mongolia’s president, Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh. A government spokesperson posted photos on Facebook and wrote that the two discussed US-Mongolia relations and potential business opportunities. The Facebook post was removed shortly afterwards.
Trump Jr’s spokesperson said it was an unofficial meeting in which they largely discussed the outdoors. Khürelsükh’s spokesperson added: “The president had an informal meeting and a meal with Trump’s son. Relations are on fairly good terms. They did not discuss politics or official visits.”
Additional reporting by David Hindley, Alex Rogers and Katya Arenina
Link To FT.com: https://www.ft.com/content/f41fc704-c9e6-42de-b800-d43cabe61947
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