HERE IS A TIMELINE OF TRUMP’S CONNECTIONS TO RUSSIA:

1987 Trump was invited to Moscow by the Soviet ambassador to the United States to discuss luxury hotel developments. Trump told Playboy magazine that his plans to build hotels in Moscow failed because the country “was out of control and the leadership knows it.” Four years later, on Christmas Day, the Soviet Union officially dissolved, and Russians who had been allowed to buy state- owned enterprises amassed enormous fortunes. 1996 While wrapping up a series of bankruptcies in New York, Trump talked of building a replica of his Trump Tower in Moscow and traveled there to discuss renovating the Moskva and Rossiya hotels, according to Bloomberg News. The bankruptcies led to a change in Trump’s business model: Instead of building projects from the ground up, he signed licensing agreements that in some cases gave him an ownership stake in properties that bore his name without putting up any of his own money. The Trump Organization continued to seek wealthy investors in Russia.

Dozens of condominiums in Trump World Tower in midtown Manhattan were bought by Russians in the late 1990s, said Dolly Lenz, a real estate broker who sold many of the units. Many buyers sought an audience with Trump, whose business acumen they respected, Lenz said.

Early 2000s: The Trump Organization developed several projects abroad, many of them involving Russian money. 2007 Trump debuted his Trump Super Premium Vodka in Moscow. Large orders for the gold- glazed spirit followed, but the brand fizzled by 2009, according to The New York Times. 2008 Trump’s son, Donald Jr., told investors in Moscow that the Trump Organization had trademarked the Donald Trump name in Russia and planned to build housing and hotels in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi and sell licenses to other developers, the Russian daily Kommersant reported. “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross- section of a lot of our assets,” Trump Jr. said. “We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”

Trump Jr. traveled to Russia a half- dozen times in 18 months, but no deals materialized. He said there were plenty of investment opportunities, but the business environment was dangerous and trustworthy partners hard to find. 2010 Trump’s next big U. S. project, the Trump SoHo in New York, was built with partner Bayrock Group, founded by Tevfik Arif, a former Soviet official. 2013 Trump brought the Miss Universe Pageant to Moscow, funded by $ 20 million from Russian billionaire Aras Agalarov. The venue was Agalarov’s Crocus City Hall on the outskirts of Moscow. 2016 Trump’s presidential campaign manager, Paul Manafort, resigned in August amid reports that he worked on the political campaign of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was forced to flee office because of his pro- Russian stance.

Carter Page, a former Merrill Lynch investment banker in Moscow, was a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser until August, when Yahoo News reported that U. S. intelligence officials investigated whether he had been communicating with Russian officials about lifting U. S. sanctions.