SPECIAL
Tracking Trump's Ascension to Becoming a Russian Asset
Part 1: Trump's First Flirts with Russia
March 12, 2025 - Tyler, WTF America?
Over the next few weeks, together we'll be tracking Trump’s connections to Russia from decades ago. Unlike what you’ve probably heard in paid media, Trump’s connections go back much further than his 2016 presidency. The Democrats probably would have been wiser to shine a light on the longer timeline when investigating Trump's connections to Russia, but we all know how horrible the Democrats are at storytelling, which is why we use great sourcing for the below story. Most notably, we use Craig Unger, who has worked with former KGB spies to piece together information on Trump's timeline with Russia.
This week we’ll focus on an important ten-year period: 1977 – 1987, which will call Trump's First Flirts with Russia . This timeline covers Trump's:
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First marriage to a Soviet model
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First run-in with the Russian mafia
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First trip to Russia
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First inclination to get into American politics
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In1977 Trump married Czech model, Ivana Zelnicknova; Czechoslovakia was part of the USSR at the time. Craig Unger believes this is when Trump became the target of a spying operation overseen by the Czech intelligence service in cooperation with the KGB.
Ivana Zelnicknova
Ivana Zelnicknova's burial in Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster, NJ
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In 1980, Trump purchased 200 TV sets for the Grand Hyatt New York hotel. He bought these from Semyon Kislin, a Russian immigrant, who co-owned a shop called Joy-Lud electronics on Fifth Avenue. Kislin was also a KGB “spotter agent” responsible for identifying potential intelligence asset for the KGB.
Semyon "Sam" Kislin
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In 1984, David Bogatin, a Russian mobster and close ally of Semion Mogilevich, a major Russian mob boss, met with Trump in Trump Tower after it was constructed. David was only 38 years old and arrived in the US seven years prior. He was formerly a pilot for the Soviet Army.
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Trump’s Tower in New York City was popular from its initial construction. Of all 263 units, only a few were left.
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David, who arrived in the US with $3 to his name, brought $6M in cash (equivalent to $15M when adjusted for inflation) to Trump tower and bought five condos in the tower. Trump even attended the closing for the transaction.
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Three years later in 1987, David pleaded guilty to a gasoline bootlegging scheme with Russian mobsters. (Does that sound like something a person with $6M to their name would do?) He fled the US, and the government seized his five condos, accusing him of purchasing them as part of a money laundering operation with Russia. You can make assumptions on whether Trump knew this or not, but the coincidences don’t end there…
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Later, David’s brother was in a case where he was found guilty of running a $150 million stock scam from 1993 to 1998, manipulating stock prices in a publicly traded company called YBM, which was formed by a Russian mafia boss to amass wealth (sound familiar?). You can find that course case here.
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What’s significant about the stock manipulation case is that David’s brother was found guilty in this case with Semion Mogilevich, the aforementioned primary Russian mafia boss at the time. TLDR: David Bogatin and his brother, Jacob Bogatin, were directly involved in working for the Russian mafia, which is an arm of the Russian government that extends into foreign countries. Buying real estate was a common method of holding Russian mafia money as it ‘cleaned’ dirty money. Where are David and Jacob today? In Russia, of course, with their old mafia boss, Semion Mogilevich. Nobody knows their status or whereabouts.
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In 1987, The Soviet Diplomatic Service arranges Trump’s first trip to Moscow and St Petersburg in 1987 with assistance from the KGB, Russia’s military intelligence arm. He was fed KGB talking points and flattered by operatives that suggested he should go into politics. As Yuri Shvets, a former KGB major puts it: “For the KGB, it was a charm offensive. They had collected a lot of information on his personality so they knew who he was personally. The feeling was that he was extremely vulnerable intellectually, and psychologically, and he was prone to flattery.”
Semion Mogilevich
Trump's first Russia visit
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Soon after he returned to the US, Trump began exploring politics and a potential run for President…. that's right, well before 2016! And that’s where we’ll pick up next week.
Story Sourcing