OREANDA-NEWS. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States on Thursday, February 25, announced a reward of 250 thousand dollars for information, that will lead to the arrest of Russian Konstantin Kilimnik. The native of Soviet Ukraine he was an assistant to Paul Manafort, the former head of the campaign staff of former United States President Donald Trump.

Manafort was one of the first people convicted in the investigation of US Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller about the Trump campaign's ties to Russia. In May 2020, he was released from prison under house arrest in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, and in December he was pardoned by the head of state.

The Federal Court of the District of Columbia issued an arrest warrant for Konstantin Kilimnik, after he was charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy for a similar purpose. According to the verdict, Kilimnik «deliberately tried to persuade another person to his side, using corrupt methods», with the intention of preventing testimony at the trial, the Washington office of the FBI said on Twitter.

Kilimnik acted as an intermediary with Russian and Ukrainian politicians and businessmen, the bureau notes. According to investigators, Kilimnik is associated with Russian intelligence, «allegedly assisted a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign in the United States, presumably at the direction of the Ukrainian government».