Fact check: Was Donald Trump recruited by the KGB and codenamed 'Krasnov'?
A Facebook post by an ex-KGB agent claiming that Donald Trump was recruited by Moscow in 1987 under the code name "Krasnov" has sent social media into a spin. What's the story behind the claim? Euroverify investigates.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/03/13/fact-checking-online-claims-that-donald-trump-was-recruited-by-the-kgb-as-krasnov
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A Facebook post by an ex-KGB agent claiming that Donald Trump was recruited by Moscow in 1987 under the code name "Krasnov" has sent social media into a spin. What's the story behind the claim? Euroverify investigates.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/03/13/fact-checking-online-claims-that-donald-trump-was-recruited-by-the-kgb-as-krasnov
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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NewsTranscript
00:00Why are online users referring to Trump as Krasnov?
00:09According to viral claims on TikTok and X, Krasnov is allegedly U.S. President Donald
00:14Trump's KGB agent name.
00:17Speculative media reports have followed and politicians like British Conservative MP Graham
00:21Stewart shared the claim.
00:24So where did these rumours come from?
00:27In February 2025, former KGB agent Almo Musayev argued on Facebook that Trump was recruited
00:34during a trip to Moscow in 1987.
00:37He said the former American businessman was in turn nicknamed Krasnov.
00:41While Trump did travel to Moscow in 1987, Musayev did not provide proof of Trump's recruitment.
00:48According to some researchers, the department Musayev worked for did not focus on recruiting
00:52foreign intelligence.
00:54In 2021, American journalist Craig Unger published a book claiming that Trump is a
00:59Russian asset.
01:00One of his key sources was former KGB agent Yuri Shvets, who posed as a journalist in
01:06Washington D.C. during the 1980s.
01:08For Unger, there is a key distinction between being an agent and an asset.
01:12An agent knows he or she is employed, they get paid, and they were asked to perform certain
01:21specific tasks.
01:23An asset is very different, it's more someone who's a reliable friend who will do favours.
01:30Trump's Russia ties were investigated in the 2019 Mueller report into Russian interference
01:34in the 2016 US elections.
01:37Links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign were identified, but it did
01:40not find that the Trump campaign helped Russia with interference.
01:43The US president has denied he ever worked for Russia.
01:47EuroVerify cannot confirm claims that Trump is a Russian asset, but his foreign policy
01:51favourable to Russia is likely to have fuelled online claims.