DOMINANT ANGLE
Paris is dissecting the financial circuits that led the money of a businessman close to the Kremlin to the eldest son of the American president, more than the legality of the gift.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Umar Kremlev funded several hundred thousand dollars' worth of festivities, including the rental of a private island and a fireworks display, according to ProPublica (20 Minutes).
- 02
The funds for the wedding were channeled through an IBA entity based in Dubai, a federation that Kremlev has headed since 2020 and for which Gazprom has become the preferred partner (Le Monde).
- 03
Vladimir Putin awarded Umar Kremlev the Order of Friendship in April 2026, just a few months before the wedding (Sud Ouest).
ANALYSIS
Paris, September 15, 2026. The French press is retracing the financial circuit more than it is judging the legality of the gesture. According to the ProPublica investigation, revealed on Monday, September 14, and picked up by all the titles, Umar Kremlev, a Russian businessman close to Vladimir Putin, has financed several hundred thousand dollars' worth of festivities organized after the wedding of Donald Trump Jr and Bettina Anderson, celebrated on May 24 in the Bahamas. He allegedly paid for the rental of a private island, where a reception was held and where several guests slept, as well as a fireworks display, specifies 20 Minutes.
Le Monde retraces the trajectory of this "personal sponsor" who remained discreet for a long time: Umar Kremlev has been heading the IBA, a controversial boxing federation, since 2020; soon after his arrival, the Russian gas giant Gazprom became its privileged partner. The funds intended for the wedding would have transited through an IBA entity based in Dubai. In April 2026, Vladimir Putin awarded Kremlev the Order of Friendship, an official Russian distinction, with a photograph of the handshake to prove it.
Bettina and Donald Trump Jr confirmed the financing in a message posted on Instagram, mentioning "an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend" and rejecting any political interpretation: it would be "regrettable" that a "personal and happy" event would be presented as suspect because of the origin of their friend. BFMTV and Sud Ouest note that about fifty guests, including Eric Trump and Jared Kushner, participated in the celebrations, and that Donald Trump did not attend, citing discussions related to the war in Iran that kept him in Washington.
France 24 files the case in its press review under the title "Russian-style wedding", a sign that the retained motif is less about ethics than about the proximity of Russian money to the presidential entourage, a few days after Don Jr attacked the American left at the Republican convention in Dallas. Trump Jr's spokesperson did not dispute the taking charge of expenses, presenting Kremlev as a personal friend with no business relationship.
20 Minutes notes that the entourage of the Russian leader, like that of Trump Jr, describes a simple "friendly relationship", without a business link, while the IBA has released photographs of the two men together in Istanbul in September 2025, prior to the wedding.
SOURCES (5)
- 20 MinutesMEDIUM
- Sud OuestMEDIUM
- BFMTVMEDIUM