Fact check: Was Donald Trump recruited by the KGB and codenamed 'Krasnov'?

When former KGB officer Alnur Mussayev claimed that US President Donald Trump was recruited as an asset for Moscow in the 1980s, it set off a storm on social media.

In a Facebook post on 20 February, Mussayev said that Trump was enlisted by the KGB in 1987 while on a trip to Moscow, then aged 40, and assigned the code name "Krasnov".

Trump has not directly responded to Mussayev's claims. The US president has repeatedly denied having ever worked for Russia.

One thread on X, which has amassed more than 1 million views, refers to Trump as "Krasnov" and brands the US president as a Russian asset. The post goes on to list a series of claims which it presents as purported evidence for this declaration.

Meanwhile, other social media users turned to mockery, with one account posting a photo montage of Trump in a KGB outfit, with the political slogan and acronym MAGA ("Make America Great Again") altered to read "Moscow Agent Governing America".

Krasnov is a common surname in Russia, derived from the word "krasniy", which means red.

A flurry of speculative media reports followed, and politicians, including British conservative MP Graham Stuart, repeated his claim, writing in X: "We have to consider the possibility that President Trump is a Russian asset".

Does the claim carry any weight?

Mussayev did not provide any proof to back up claims that Trump was recruited by the KGB during his visit to Moscow.

Doubts have also been cast over the position Mussayev says he held within the KGB.

In the Facebook post, Kazakhstan's former spy chief says he worked for the KGB's 6th Directorate. However, sources including the Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency, state that this department did not focus on "recruiting foreign intelligence", but instead on "guarding against economic espionage".

Euroverify cannot verify claims that Trump is a Russian asset.

The amplification of the claims on social media has likely been intensified by the US president's foreign policy stance, which has been viewed as favourable to Russia.

Moving away from the Biden administration's support of Ukraine, the Trump administration has halted military support and intelligence sharing with Kyiv.

That followed a public spat between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a highly contentious meeting in the Oval Office last month.

Trump's 1987 trip to Moscow

Similar allegations about Trump being a Russian asset have surfaced repeatedly in the past. In 2021, American journalist and author Craig Unger published his book American Kompromat, in which he claims that Trump was recruited by Moscow.

Former KGB agent Yuri Shvets — who had a cover job as a correspondent for the Russian state-owned news agency TASS in Washington during the 1980s — was one of Unger's key sources for the book. Shvets told Unger that Trump was tapped up in 1987.

Unger told Euronews there is a clear distinction between an agent and an asset.

"While an agent is employed by and intelligence agency and paid, an asset is a reliable friend who will do favours," he said.

In Unger's book, Shvets alleged that when Trump opened his first major property development, the Grand Hyatt New York Hotel, in 1980, he purchased 200 television sets from the Joy-Lud electronics store, which was owned by a Soviet emigré.

Shvets claimed the shop was a KGB front and that Trump had already been identified as a potential asset by that point.

In 1987, Trump travelled to Moscow, where Shvets claims that Trump was tapped up by the KGB.

Upon his return, Trump bought three full-page adverts criticising US foreign policy in three major American newspapers at a total cost of $94,801 (€87,150 at time of writing).

In his 1987 book, The Art of the Deal, Trump also mentioned the prospect of inaugurating a Trump building in Moscow.

"Trump had previously provided tabloid-fodder for the American press, but when he returned from Russia, he began portraying himself as a savvy foreign policy analyst," Unger told Euronews.

The 2019 Mueller report: A dig into Trump's Russia ties

Trump’s ties with Russia were investigated in the 2019 Mueller report, which was commissioned by the US Justice Department and examined Russian interference in the 2016 US elections.

While "links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign" were identified, the report did not "establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."

"I never worked for Russia," said Trump when questioned about his ties to the country by a reporter in 2019.

"It's a disgrace that you even ask that question. It's all a big fat hoax", he added.