Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
I was surprised to see reporting from Daily Kos with the following headline:
"Mitch McConnell reportedly linked to Putin, Russian
oligarch Oleg Deripaska and Russian companies".
So I figured I'd look into it.
The article was written by Leslie Salzillo. Under her name is the word "Community," which I
think — and I offer my apologies here, because I'm not familiar with Daily Kos —
means the article was written by someone who is maybe not on staff. Don't get me wrong, here —
I'd love to be able to contribute articles to somebody as a "side hustle" (local news made a big
deal of that term recently, so I thought I'd try it on.). The only point I'm trying to make here
is that the article might be the equivalent of an opinion piece.
Salzillo points to an opinion article in the Dallas News to show that McConnell, along
with Senators Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham, had a contributor named Blavatnik who has dual
US and UK citizenship and strong ties to Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg. Deripaska and
Vekselberg are both strongly tied to the Kremlin.
1
The Dallas News article was originally written for The Dallas Morning News by
Ruth May, "a business professor at the University of Dallas and an expert on the economies of Russia and
Ukraine."
These opinion articles are some pretty strong opinions. And they're damn good.
Daily Kos published Salzillo's article on January 28th, just after US Treasury
Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced the US had lifted sanctions on three Russian companies
tied to Oleg Deripaska. Mnuchin lifted these sanctions despite two resolutions introduced
by Demorats in the House of Representatives.
Among the many interesting points May makes in her article: Mnuchkin and Blavatnik owned
RATPAC Entertainment together until Mnuchkin divested his interest to become Secretary of the
Treasury.
Blavatnik:
- Billionaire Russian with US citizenship
- donates millions to McConnell and other Republican PACs;
- tied to Deripaska, who is tied directly to the Kremlin
- Former Mnuchkin business parter
Mnuchkin:
- Former Blavatnik business partner
- now US Secretary of the Treasury
- lifts sanctions on three Deripaska businesses.
Salzillo's point is simply that McConnell's ride-or-die alliance with
Trump and the Russians are guiding his actions as Senate Majority Leader.