Don Jr.’s Cozy Hunting Trip With Putin’s Pal Exposed
The president’s son was criticized for allowing Umar Kremlev to pay for and attend his Caribbean wedding.
Instagram/Dastan Mukhamedrakhim
Donald Trump Jr. enjoyed a hunting trip with the Putin-linked Russian oligarch who paid for his lavish Caribbean wedding, it has been revealed.
Umar Kremlev, head of the sanctioned and scandal-ridden International Boxing Association (IBA), joined Trump Jr. for a two-day trip to a remote part of western Mongolia in August, where Trump Jr. shot and killed an Altai argali, an endangered horned sheep, the Financial Times reports.
Kremlev was previously found to have bankrolled and attended part of Trump Jr.’s three-day wedding celebrations with Bettina Anderson in the Bahamas in May. It is unclear why Trump Jr., who has an estimated net worth of around $300 million, needed the top Putin ally to contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars toward his wedding.
Trump Jr. has denied there is anything untoward about his relationship with Kremlev. However, security concerns have been raised about someone so close to the White House being friends with a man closely connected to the Kremlin.
Umar Kremlev, a top Putin ally, was elected president of the IBA in 2020.
Kristina Solovyova/via Reuters
“It really doesn’t matter if people have the most above-board intentions,” Holden Triplett, the former counterintelligence director on the U.S. National Security Council during Trump’s first term, told the Financial Times.
“The moment the Russian security and intelligence services figure out someone has a relationship with anyone of high value, they will try to weaponize that.”
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Social media posts, flight-tracking data, local sources and other public records show that Kremlev joined Trump Jr. and his camp for a hunting trip in Mongolia’s Uvs province in late August.
Donald Trump Jr. continued his Mongolia hunting trip without Kremlev, a video of which was posted on social media by a Kazakh travel influencer with more than 2.2 million Instagram followers.
Instagram/Dastan Mukhamedrakhim
Kremlev documented his journey to Mongolia from Kazakhstan via a chartered jet on Telegram. He was accompanied by Arthur Martirosov, a Russian businessman and partner in the U.S.-sanctioned venture capital fund Voskhod.
A local involved in the hunting trip told the Financial Times that Trump Jr. and Kremlev were “cautious” about being photographed together. None of Kremlev’s social media videos feature Trump Jr., but two of his hunting organizers appear.
Trump Jr. traveled to Bayan-Ölgii in Mongolia after spending two days with Kremlev to hunt an endangered wild goat species.
Instagram/Dastan Mukhamedrakhim
Trump Jr. and his wife also made sure Kremlev did not appear in any of the photos they released from their wedding on social media.
Kremlev did not attend the small wedding ceremony itself, but was part of a wider guest list of around 50 people who joined the Trumps for the celebrations in the Bahamas.
He appeared in a photo shared on Instagram by one of Bettina’s friends, at the back of a large group that included Trump Jr.’s sisters, Ivanka and Tiffany, and brother-in-law Jared Kushner, ProPublica first reported.
Bettina Trump responded to the report that Kremlev paid for her wedding on social media.
President Donald Trump did not attend his eldest son’s wedding, claiming he was too busy dealing with the Iran war. The 80-year-old told reporters in the Oval Office in September that Trump Jr. had paid back the money Kremlev contributed toward the wedding day, including the cost of renting a private island for the reception and paying for a huge fireworks display.
“I have to say though, giving a wedding party is pretty common,” President Trump added.
Kremlev joined Vladimir Putin during the Russian leader’s visit to China in May, the same month he attended part of Trump Jr.’s wedding celebrations.
Trump Jr. has known Kremlev since at least September 2025, when he took part in an IBA panel in Istanbul alongside Kremlev, boxing star Manny Pacquiao and Rasheda Ali Walsh, daughter of Muhammad Ali.
A spokesperson for Trump Jr. said a mutual friend in the hunting world introduced him to Kremlev.
International Boxing Association
During the event, Kremlev praised Kaan Karakaya, a Turkish hunting organizer who has arranged Trump Jr.’s trips to Mongolia.
“Kaan has been a bridge between worlds, a friend who brings people together,” Kremlev said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Trump Jr. said: “Don has made clear that he has a personal friendship, not a business relationship, with Umar.
“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.
The Daily Beast has contacted representatives for Donald Trump Jr. and Umar Kremlev’s office for comment.
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