Who got paid to lobby for Ukraine?

KIEV, Ukraine — A new indictment against former Donald Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort focused a spotlight Saturday on uncovering the former European leaders who prosecutors contend were secretly paid by Manafort to lobby on behalf of Ukraine.

The U.S. indictment handed up Friday by a grand jury doesn’t name the European politicians who were paid, although it notes they worked in coordination with Manafort, his deputy Rick Gates and two Washington lobbying firms — the Podesta Group and Mercury Public Affairs — to lobby U.S. officials and lawmakers.

At least four leaders — former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, former Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko — were named last year in public filings by the two lobbying firms. The firms said the politicians were involved in U.S. speaking events and meetings with U.S. lawmakers and others to promote Manafort’s client at the time, Ukraine’s pro-Moscow president, Viktor Yanukovych.

The filings did not disclose any payments to the former officials, and it’s unclear if they are the same politicians referenced in the U.S. indictment.

U.S. law requires people who are lobbying U.S. officials on behalf of foreign governments or political parties to register, and a Justice Department database doesn’t show that those former European officials did.

But it’s unclear from the U.S. indictment how much the former European politicians knew about their funding or if they could be covered by some legal exemption.

The lobbying by the European political figures, identified in the indictment as the “Hapsburg Group,” allegedly took place in 2012-13, when Ukraine was moving toward closer integration with the European Union. But the indictment doesn’t formally charge any of the leaders or refer to them as co-conspirators of Manafort and Gates.

The four politicians did not respond to requests Saturday from The Associated Press for comment but two issued strong denials.

Gusenbauer told the Austrian national news agency APA he never acted on Yanukovych’s behalf.

“I never undertook activities for Mr. Yanukovych” or his party, the news agency quoted Gusenbauer as saying. He said his interests in 2012 and 2013 were in bringing the nation of Ukraine closer to Europe.