meet aras agalarov--the trump of russia (and close friend of putin!)
Aras Agalarov
Founder and President, Russia-based Crocus Group
Aras Agalarov is a Russian real estate mogul and trusted associate of Vladimir Putin who is often referred to as the "Trump of Russia" for his real estate practices. Agalarov, who has benefited considerably from contracts with the Russian government, forged a close partnership with Donald Trump to host the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow.
In November 2013, Trump brought the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow through a partnership with Agalarov in which the Russian billionaire paid Trump $14 million to $20 million.
Agalarov and his pop star son, Emin Agalarov, regularly attended business meetings and social events with Trump throughout the pageant weekend. Trump also filmed a music video with the younger Agalarov, which was partially set in the Moscow Ritz-Carlton.
Together with Herman Gref, Putin’s economy minister from 2000 to 2007, Agalarov organized a two-hour dinner with Trump and a dozen of Russia’s top businessmen at Nobu, a restaurant in Moscow located less than a mile from the Kremlin.
Tweeting at Aras Agalarov after the trip, Trump said, “I had a great weekend with you and your family. You have done a FANTASTIC job. TRUMP TOWER-MOSCOW is next. EMIN was WOW!"
Soon after the pageant, Putin awarded Aras Agalarov the “Order of Honor of the Russian Federation" distinction, one of the country’s highest civilian distinctions.
https://themoscowproject.org/the-players.html?playername=Aras%20Agalarov
Exclusive: Powerful Russian Partner Boasts Of Ongoing Access To Trump Family
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“Now that he ran and was elected, he does not forget his friends,” Agalarov says.
Emin Agalarov (left), Donald Trump and Aras Agalarov at the Miss Universe competition in Moscow in 2013. The Agalarovs paid an estimated $7 million in licensing fees to host the event. (Photo by Victor Boyko/Getty Images)
“I have nothing to do with Russia,” Donald Trump bellowed to thousands of frenzied supporters at a Tampa, Florida rally last October. The truth, it seems, is a bit more complicated.
In an exclusive interview with Forbes, Emin Agalarov—a Russian pop singer, real estate mogul and son of one of the country’s richest people—described an ongoing relationship with the Trump family, including post-election contact with the president himself.
Among Agalarov’s most striking claims: that he and his billionaire developer father, Aras, had plans to build a Trump Tower in Russia that would now likely be under construction had Trump not run for office; that he has maintained contact with the Trump family since the election and has exchanged messages with Donald Trump Jr. as recently as January; and that President Trump himself sent a handwritten note to the Agalarovs in November after they congratulated him on his victory.
“Now that he ran and was elected, he does not forget his friends,” Agalarov says.
The Agalarovs’ ties to Trump stretch back roughly five years, when they expressed interest in bringing Trump’s Miss Universe pageant to Moscow. After a visit to the Miss USA competition in Las Vegas, at Trump’s invitation, they signed an agreement, eventually paying an estimated $7 million in licensing fees to host Miss Universe at one of their properties.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2017/03/20/russian-billionaire-family-trump-ties-ongoing/#3ac518b669b3