Who is Sergei Gorkov, the powerful Russian banker who courted Jared Kushner?
Gorkov could be considered an example of the ‘new nobility’ of people tied to the security services who dominate the highest levels of government and business under Putin
When it first emerged that Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner had met Sergei Gorkov, the head of Russian state investment bank Vnesheconombank (VEB), after the presidential election, the meeting was not a focus of the FBI investigation into possible Russian collusion.
But last week it became known that investigators are scrutinising the December meeting with the banker, a graduate of the academy of Russia’s main intelligence agency, the FSB.
The White House and the bank have offered differing accounts of the Kushner-Gorkov sit-down. The White House said Kushner met Gorkov and other foreign representatives as a transition official to “help advance the president’s foreign policy goals”. VEB said it was part of talks with business leaders about the bank’s development strategy. It said Kushner was representing Kushner companies, his family real estate empire.
Officials close to the investigation have said the half-hour meeting, which was requested by Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, may have been part of efforts to establish a secret channel of communication between the Trump administration and the Kremlin.
Investigators will now have to try to determine what role Gorkov plays in the US-Russian relationship, despite his low profile and chequered biography. Gorkov and VEB have had ties to Russia’s spy apparatus, and the VEB is often used to fund President Vladimir Putin’s chosen overseas projects.