Putin-Linked Oligarch Says Trump Jr. Paid Him Back: ‘I Don’t Understand Why’

(Mark Schiefelbein/AP photo)

An oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed that Donald Trump Jr. reimbursed him for expenses related to the president’s oldest son’s lavish wedding celebration — a decision he said left him puzzled.

Umar Kremlev, who heads the International Boxing Association, confirmed during a Tuesday press conference in Istanbul that Trump Jr. returned the money he spent on his May wedding to socialite Bettina Anderson in the Bahamas, The Associated Press reported.

“Yes, he did,” Kremlev. “He did repay the money I spent on the present.”

“Frankly speaking, I do not understand why he decided to do so,” Kremlev added.

Kremlev argued there was nothing unusual about picking up the tab for a friend’s celebration, comparing it to hosting someone at his home.

“There are all kinds of events organized by all kinds of people. It is as if I invite you to come and visit my country house. Would you expect me to issue an invoice to them afterward?” he said through an interpreter, calling the idea “ridiculous.”

ProPublica revealed last month that the festivities stretched across three days and two private islands, with Kremlev reportedly spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and covering the cost of renting one of the islands.

Anderson later maintained on Instagram that the couple was married “surrounded ONLY by our family,” while describing Kremlev as a “dear friend” who “very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding.”

Kremlev, who was, as the AP noted, recently awarded Putin’s Order of Friendship, similarly dismissed scrutiny.

“I mean, why can’t we be friends? We are just friends,” he said. “We are simply friends and what unites us is love for sports.”

President Donald Trump, who was not at the wedding, has defended his son and said he understood that Trump Jr. had reimbursed Kremlev.

“It’s totally allowed,” Trump said. “But, as I understand it, he paid them back.”

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