Page:Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election.pdf/147

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U.S. Department of Justice

Attorney Work Product // May Contain Material Protected Under Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e)

country, and is quite interesting.[1]

Manafort identified "the guy who gave you your biggest black caviar jar" as Yanukovych. He explained that, in 2010, he and Yanukovych had lunch to celebrate the recent presidential election. Yanukovych gave Manafort a large jar of black caviar that was worth approximately $30,000 to $40,000.[2] Manafort's identification of Yanukovych as "the guy who gave you your biggest black caviar jar" is consistent with Kilimnik being in Moscow—where Yanukovych resided—when Kilimnik wrote "I met today with the guy," and with a December 2016 email in which Kilimnik referred to Yanukovych as "BG," Grand Jury [3] Manafort replied to Kilimnik's July 29 email, "Tuesday [August 2] is best... Tues or weds in NYC."[4]

Three days later, on July 31, 2016, Kilimnik flew back to Kiev from Moscow, and on that same day, wrote to Manafort that he needed "about 2 hours" for their meeting "because it is a long caviar story to tell."[5] Kilimnik wrote that he would arrive at JFK on August 2 at 7:30 p.m., and he and Manafort agreed to a late dinner that night.[6] Documentary evidence—including flight, phone, and hotel records, and the timing of text messages exchanged[7]—confirms the dinner took place as planned on August 2.[8]

As to the contents of the meeting itself, the accounts of Manafort and Gates—who arrived late to the dinner—differ in certain respects. But their versions of events, when assessed alongside available documentary evidence and what Kilimnik told business associate Sam Patten, indicate that at least three principal topics were discussed.

First, Manafort and Kilimnik discussed a plan to resolve the ongoing political problems in Ukraine by creating an autonomous republic in its more industrialized eastern region of Donbas,[9]


  1. 7/29/16 Email, Kilimnik to Manafort (10:51 a.m.).
  2. Manafort 9/12/18 302, at 3.
  3. Email, Manafort to Kilimnik; Investigative Technique  ; Grand Jury  
  4. 7/29/16 Email, Manafort to Kilimnik.
  5. 7/31/16 Email, Manafort to Kilimnik.
  6. 7/31/16 Email, Manafort to Kilimnik.
  7. Kilimnik 8/2/16 CBP Record; Call Records of Konstantin Kilimnik Grand Jury ; Call Records of Rick Gates Grand Jury ; 8/2-3/16, Kilimnik Park Lane Hotel Receipt.
  8. Deripaska's private plane also flew to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on the evening of August 2, 2016. According to Customs and Border Protection records, the only passengers on the plane were Deripaska's wife, daughter, mother, and father-in-law, and separate records obtained by our Office confirm that Kilimnik flew on a commercial flight to New York.
  9. The Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics, which are located in the Donbas region of Ukraine, declared themselves independent in response to the popular unrest in 2014 that removed President Yanukovych from power. Pro-Russian Ukrainian militia forces, with backing from the Russian military, have occupied the region since 2014. Under the Yanukovych-backed plan, Russia would assist in withdrawing the military, and Donbas would become an autonomous region within Ukraine with its own

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