New York Daily News

More Putin bigs are tied to NRA

- BY PETER STONE and GREG GORDON

WASHINGTON — Several prominent Russians, some in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, now have been identified as having contact with National Rifle Associatio­n officials during the 2016 election campaign, according to photograph­s and an NRA source.

The contacts have emerged amid a deepening Justice Department investigat­ion into whether Russian banker and lifetime NRA member Alexander Torshin illegally channeled money through the gun rights group to add financial firepower to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidenti­al bid.

Other influentia­l Russians who met with NRA representa­tives during the campaign include Dmitry Rogozin, who until last month served as a deputy prime minister overseeing Russia’s defense industry, and Sergei Rudov, head of one of Russia’s largest philanthro­pies, the St. Basil the Great Charitable Foundation. The foundation was launched by an ultranatio­nalist ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Russians talked and dined with NRA representa­tives, mainly in Moscow, as presidenti­al candidates vied for the White House. Now federal investigat­ors want to know if relationsh­ips between the Russian leaders and the nation’s largest gun rights group went beyond vodka toasts and gun factory tours, evolving into another facet of the Kremlin’s broad election-interferen­ce operation.

Even as the contacts took place, Kremlin cyber-operatives were secretly hacking top Democrats’ emails and barraging Americans’ social media accounts with fake news stories aimed at damaging the image of Democratic presidenti­al front-runner Hillary Clinton and boosting the prospects of Republican Donald Trump. It is a crime, potentiall­y punishable with prison time, to donate or use foreign money in U.S. election campaigns.

McClatchy in January disclosed that special counsel Robert Mueller was investigat­ing whether Torshin or others engineered the flow of Russian monies to the NRA. The Senate Intelligen­ce Committee is also looking into the matter, sources familiar with the probe have said.

NRA spokesman Andrew Arulananda­m said that the FBI has not contacted the group.

Of the $30 million the NRA reported spending to support Trump, more than $21 million was spent by its lobbying arm, whose donors are not publicly reported.

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