Artemenko

=<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">=</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/09/giuliani-associate-sanctioned</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">the Treasury Department on Thursday <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1118" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">sanctioned</a> pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach over his alleged attempts to interfere with the 2020 presidential election by planting misleading accusations of corruption against Democratic nominee <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/2020-presidential-race/candidate?id=N00001669" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Joe Biden</a>. </div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div>Derkach is <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/christopherm51/rudy-giuliani-ukraine-joe-biden-smear-efforts" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">linked to the Kremlin</a> and is the son of a former KGB officer. He worked with President <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/2020-presidential-race/candidate?id=N00023864" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump</a>’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani to supply conservative news outlets with dirt on Biden and his son, Hunter. Derkach also <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/05/johnson-and-grassley-push-back-against-accusations-theyre-spreading-russian-disinformation-391772" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">sent information</a> about the former vice president to Senate Republicans investigating the Bidens, prompting U.S. intelligence officials to <a href="https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/item/2139-statement-by-ncsc-director-william-evanina-election-threat-update-for-the-american-public" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">warn lawmakers</a> not to participate in foreign influence campaigns. Trump has insisted that Russia is not trying to boost his campaign, but multiple Trump administration agencies have said the opposite. The Treasury Department on Thursday labeled Derkach “an active Russian agent for over a decade” and indicated that he “waged a covert influence campaign centered on cultivating false and unsubstantiated narratives” to influence the upcoming 2020 election. The Treasury’s designation will freeze Derkach’s assets in the U.S.Derkach publicly released edited tapes portraying a false narrative of conversations between Biden and former Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko. As vice president, Biden threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine unless Poroshenko <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/03/what-really-happened-when-biden-forced-out-ukraines-top-prosecutor/3785620002/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">fired the nation’s top prosecutor</a> whom Western nations criticized as being corrupt. Derkach also tried to spur “corruption investigations in both Ukraine and the United States designed to culminate prior to election day,” according to the Treasury Department.Trump <a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-labor-day-press-conference-transcript-criticizes-pentagon-leaders-for-accommodating-arms-makers" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">appeared to bring up</a> Derkach’s tape earlier this week at a Labor Day press conference at the White House, telling the press corps, “he’s right on tape and you don’t want to cover it. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”OpenSecrets’ <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/fara/search" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Foreign Lobby Watch</a> database sheds some light on Derkach’s foreign influence campaign. From February through July, Derkach contracted with a firm called <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/fara/registrants/G25610" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Global Management Association Corp</a> in an attempt to set up meetings with the White House and members of Congress.derkach met with Giuliani and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/for-months-trump-allies-hunted-for-tapes-of-biden-in-ukraine-now-theyre-turning-up/2020/06/30/f3aeaba8-a67b-11ea-8681-7d471bf20207_story.html" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">claims</a> they “discussed available information on international corruption and the need to investigate it in the United States.” Planned activities in Justice Department records filed in April included “meeting with US officials” but the foreign agents did not disclose making any U.S. government contacts for Derkach before the contract <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/28/lobbyists-drop-ukrainian-lawmaker-404573" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">ended</a>, according to his most recent <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/fara2.opensecrets.org/6812-Supplemental-Statement-20200815-1.pdf" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">FARA filing</a> on Aug. 15. Giuliani, who spoke at the Republican National Convention last month, has reportedly come under scrutiny from federal prosecutors for <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-15/giuliani-faces-u-s-probe-on-campaign-finance-lobbying-breaches" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">failing to register</a> as a foreign agent. He also worked with Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman to allegedly <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/featured-datasets/25" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">funnel foreign money</a> to pro-Trump super PAC <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cycle=2020&cmte=C00637512" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">America First Action</a>. Foreign influence laws aren’t often enforced, but in 2018 a jury <a href="https://www.justice.gov/nsd-fara/recent-cases" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">convicted</a> former Trump campaign official Paul Manafort for failing to register as a foreign agent of the Ukrainian government in 2018, among other charges.  The firm Derkach worked with, Global Management Association Corp., is little more than a rebranded shell company that served as a <a href="https://forensicnews.net/2019/09/13/ukrainian-politician-andrey-artemenko-funneled-polling-data-from-ukraine-to-prague-via-wyoming-shelf-company/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; text-decoration-line: none;">Russian-linked oil company’s foreign agent</a> to buy Ukrainian polling data in 2019. Andrii Artemenko, an associate of Giuliani and business partner of Erik Prince who came under scrutiny during the <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/18/mueller-russia-probe-ukraine-peace-plan-white-house-trump-598034" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Mueller probe</a>, ran <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/fara/registrants/G25610" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Global Management Association Corp</a> using the name “Andy Victor Kuchma.” Artemenko previously collaborated with Michael Cohen, Felix Sater and Michael Flynn to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/us/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-russia.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">push</a> for a plan to lift U.S. sanctions on Russia. Artemenko’s wife, Oksana Kuchma, who is listed as an officer on records for many of his companies, incorporated what appears to be a new company in Florida called <a href="https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_fl/L19000110367" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">K&D III LLC</a> in 2019 but it has kept a low profile and its function is not yet clear. One of the officers on the new company is Sergey Knyazev, is the chairman of the Ukrainian National Police and who <a href="http://www.frontnews.eu/news/en/38279" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">met</a> with Trump in 2018.  House Democrats impeached Trump late last year over charges that he solicited foreign interference from Ukrainian officials to help his reelection bid. The Senate acquitted Trump on a near party line vote. Former top Department of Homeland Security official Brian Murphy <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/09/09/whistleblower-trump-officials-pressured-him-downplay-russia-threat/5762527002/" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-height: 1e+06px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">filed a whistleblower complaint</a> Wednesday alleging that acting secretary Chad Wolf told him to stop providing assessments of Russian interference in the 2020 election. Murphy said those orders came from Robert O’Brien, Trump’s national security adviser<div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">=</div>=war is boring 2
<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/donald-trump-russia-felix-sater-227434" target="blank" rel="nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; cursor: pointer; word-wrap: break-word;">Sater even donated the maximum amount</a> allowed to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and the White House is even using Sater <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/us/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-russia.html" target="blank" rel="nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; cursor: pointer; word-wrap: break-word;">as a back-channel diplomatic go-between</a> for Trump’s person lawyer, Michael Cohen, and a heavily-pro-Russian/pro-Putin Ukrainian legislator, Andrii Artemenko, who are discussing a Ukraine “peace plan” being pushed by close Putin aides; Artemeno also claims he has information damaging to Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s anti-Russian president facing off against Putin and his proxies in the Ukrainian Civil War. In an only <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politics/russia-dossier-update/" target="blank" rel="nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-variant="font-variant" inherit="inherit" background="background" rgb="rgb" margin="margin" px="px" padding="padding" border="border" font-stretch="font-stretch" line-height="line-height" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" cursor="cursor" pointer="pointer" word-wrap="word-wrap" break-word="break-word">partially-verified-by-U.S.-officials</a> 35-page <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3259984-Trump-Intelligence-Allegations.html" target="blank" rel="nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-variant="font-variant" inherit="inherit" background="background" rgb="rgb" margin="margin" px="px" padding="padding" border="border" font-stretch="font-stretch" line-height="line-height" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" cursor="cursor" pointer="pointer" word-wrap="word-wrap" break-word="break-word">dossier</a> on Trump and his people compiled by a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/12/intelligence-sources-vouch-credibility-donald-trump-russia-dossier-author" target="blank" rel="nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-variant="font-variant" inherit="inherit" background="background" rgb="rgb" margin="margin" px="px" padding="padding" border="border" font-stretch="font-stretch" line-height="line-height" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" cursor="cursor" pointer="pointer" word-wrap="word-wrap" break-word="break-word">respected ex-MI6 British intelligence officer</a>, Christopher Steele, Cohen is said to have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/11/trump-russia-dossier-explainer-details" target="blank" rel="nofollow noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-variant="font-variant" inherit="inherit" background="background" rgb="rgb" margin="margin" px="px" padding="padding" border="border" font-stretch="font-stretch" line-height="line-height" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" cursor="cursor" pointer="pointer" word-wrap="word-wrap" break-word="break-word">secretly met with Russian government officials</a> during the late stages of the presidential campaign, though it is not clear if this—or what—specific information has been corroborated by U.S. officials, with journalists having been unable to thus far verify the information on Cohen, who denies playing this role.=<a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-allies-plan-lift-russian-sanctions-was-hatched-early-2016-campaign-report">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-allies-plan-lift-russian-sanctions-was-hatched-early-2016-campaign-report</a>new report from McClatchy reveals that a plan President Donald Trump's allies worked on that would have ceded Crimea to Russia and lifted key sanctions against the country was developed much earlier than has previously reported — in the beginning days of 2016.This places the origination of the plan during the opening stage of Trump's run for the presidency, before he clinched the nomination and before there were any revelations about Russia's attempts to interfere in the election and support Trump's candidacy.McClatchy notes that special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the plan as part of his probe into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump associates.  Though it's not clear there's a direct relationship with this plan, another incident during the 2016 <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/12/04/568310790/2016-rnc-delegate-trump-directed-change-to-party-platform-on-ukraine-support" style="text-decoration-line: none;">election</a> may be relevant: a mysterious change in the Republican National Committee's party platform to weaken U.S. support for Ukraine following the invasion of Russia.McClatchy learned new details of the plan from Andrii Artemenko, a former Ukrainian politician. He says he worked on the plan with former GOP Rep. <a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/ex-congressman-russia-ties-may-be-missing-piece-mueller-investigation-report" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Curt Weldon</a> of Pennsylvania, who has recently come under suspicion for his ties to both Trump and Russian business interests. Alexander Rovt, a prominent figure in New York real estate, was also reportedly involved.This plan eventually ended up in the hands of Michael Cohen, Trump's fixer and former attorney. Trump's former business associate Felix Sater was also involved. Cohen has previously said that he gave the plan to Trump's ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn, though he has changed his story on that front multiple times.After the plan was first reported on in the <a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/ex-congressman-russia-ties-may-be-missing-piece-mueller-investigation-report" style="text-decoration-line: none;">New York Times</a>, it appears to have fizzled out.Artemenko says that, based on his interviews with Mueller, he believes Cohen is among the targets of the Russia investigation....mojoSergey Gorkov
A graduate of the FSB’s finishing school for spies, Gorkov heads Vnesheconombank, Russia’s state-owned development bank—effectively Putin’s slush fund. With its board seeded with Kremlin ministers, including Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, the bank was the majority lender for the Sochi Olympics, has helped Russia gain financial power in Ukraine, and is currently under US sanctions because of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. In December 2016, Gorkov attended a meeting with Jared Kushner brokered by Kislyak—after which Gorkov appears to have gone directly to meet with Putin.

Felix Sater
This Russian American businessman (and onetime FBI informant) has quite the rap sheet, including prison time for stabbing a man with the stem of a margarita glass and a guilty plea in a Mafia-linked racketeering case. Though Trump claimed in a 2013 deposition that he wouldn’t know Sater if they were in the same room, the pair in fact worked together on a variety of projects, including a potential Moscow hotel. Once a managing partner of Bayrock Group, a real estate firm with offices in Trump Tower and alleged organized crime ties, Sater reportedly worked as a senior adviser to Trump in 2010, with a Trump Organization email address and business card. In January,Sater met with Trump attorney Michael Cohen and Andrii Artemenko, a pro-Putin Ukrainian lawmaker, to discuss a “peace plan” for Ukraine and Russia.

Andrii Artemenko
Currently facing an inquiry by Ukrainian prosecutors into possible treason over his collaboration with Trump associates on the Russia-friendly peace plan, the Ukrainian parliament member claims to have evidence of corruption that could oust his country’s current pro-European president. Artemenko has spent time in prison on embezzlement charges (eventually dropped) that he says were politically motivated.

Tevfik Arif
The Kazakh founder of the Bayrock real estate firm was formerly a USSR commerce official. He hired Sater, who by 2005 became Bayrock’s managing partner; subsequently, the firm entered into deals with Trump to develop various hotel and condo projects. In 2010, Bayrock’s former finance director sued the company (but not Trump) over one of those joint ventures, the Trump SoHo, calling the building “a Russian mob project” financed with mysterious cash from Kazakhstan and Russia.
Victor Podobnyy
At a January 2013 energy conference in New York, Podobnyy met future Trump adviser Carter Page. At the time, Podobnyy was a clandestine Russian intelligence agent working under diplomatic cover in Russia’s UN delegation. For the next five months, Page met with, emailed, and provided documents to Podobnyy about the energy business, believing that Podobnyy’s UN position would help him broker deals in Russia. All the while, Podobnyy and one of his colleagues attempted to recruit Page as an asset. In 2015, Podobnyy was busted by the FBI for being an unregistered agent of a foreign government, along with two other Russians, but avoided arrest and prosecution because of his diplomatic immunity.hmnhttp://news.fark.com/newdata/news?ad=2796262&bl=83097&ag=20&st=20&ct=adpreview&out=1<a href="http://crooksandliars.com/2017/03/eighth-russian-connected-trump-found-dead" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">http://crooksandliars.com/2017/03/eighth-russian-connected-trump-found-dead</a>... hard out there for a potentially compromising conduit between Trump and Vladmir Putin.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">This one strikes particularly close to home. Alex Oronov was found dead, according to a Facebook post by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/andvicart/posts/1882173455395351" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Andrii Artemenko</a>, an Ukrainian MP. Oronov was apparently quite successful in agribusiness. He had an interest in an ethanol business set up by Michael and Bryan Cohen in the Ukraine. Michael Cohen is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-russia-ukraine-peace-plan-2017-2" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Donald Trump's attorney</a>. Bryan, in addition to being Michael's brother, is <a href="http://www.pressreader.com/ukraine/kyiv-post/20170224/281629600043454" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Oronov's son-in-law</a>. With Artemenko and others, Oronov had organized a "peace plan," which was described by The New York Times as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/us/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-russia.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">back-channel opportunity</a> for the Trump administration:<blockquote style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 20px 0px 19px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 4px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-image: initial; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none;">Mr. Flynn is gone, having been caught lying about his own discussion of sanctions with the Russian ambassador. But the proposal, a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia, remains, along with those pushing it: Michael D. Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer, who delivered the document; Felix H. Sater, a business associate who helped Mr. Trump scout deals in Russia; and a Ukrainian lawmaker trying to rise in a political opposition movement shaped in part by Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort. [..] Mr. Trump has confounded Democrats and Republicans alike with his repeated praise for the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, and his desire to forge an American-Russian alliance. While there is nothing illegal about such unofficial efforts, a proposal that seems to tip toward Russian interests may set off alarms. [..] But the proposal contains more than just a peace plan. Andrii V. Artemenko, the Ukrainian lawmaker, who sees himself as a Trump-style leader of a future Ukraine, claims to have evidence — “names of companies, wire transfers” — showing corruption by the Ukrainian president, Petro O. Poroshenko, that could help oust him. And Mr. Artemenko said he had received encouragement for his plans from top aides to Mr. Putin.“A lot of people will call me a Russian agent, a U.S. agent, a C.I.A. agent,” Mr. Artemenko said. “But how can you find a good solution between our countries if we do not talk?”</blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Oh yeah, I'm sure this is completely altruistic on the part of Artemenko.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Artemenko's announcement of Oronov's passing does not include a cause of death (as best as I can tell from Facebook's translation app), but does point a finger at the stress brought on by The New York Times article to being too much for Oronov to bear. I'm sure it could be natural causes, but there is a disturbingly significant number of suspicious deaths surrounding Trump and Putin. And remember, even if the official cause of death is something like a heart attack, that doesn't mean <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/alimwatkins/the-strange-case-of-the-russian-diplomat-who-got-his-head-sm?utm_term=.jsn5N7xOz#.kcJG1nvDB" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">his head wasn't bashed in</a>.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Because that's the kind of thing that happens in Soviet....er, Trump's America.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(h/t to <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/new-development-on-the-michael-cohen-peace-plan-meeting" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Josh Marshall</a>, who offers this <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-innocent-explanation" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Occam's Razor theory </a>of what appears to be a snowballing story.)==