A Russian oligarch close to Putin paid for Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding

What happened

Kremlev footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses, according to records reviewed by ProPublica and interviews with three people familiar with the event.

He paid to rent out one of the private islands, where a reception was held and where guests slept, and covered other big-ticket items including the fireworks show; his team helped plan the event.

The wedding payments came from an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the boxing association uses for financial transactions. Kremlev is the head of the International Boxing Association, which has been financed by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. A spokesperson for Trump Jr. did not dispute the wedding payments, and said Kremlev is “not someone he has a business relationship with” and that the men met through a mutual friend in the hunting world and bonded over their love of boxing and the outdoors.

After the story was published, Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Trump confirmed Kremlev's role in a statement on Bettina's Instagram account: “Our dear friend Umar very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us,” calling it “an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend.”

The source carries no sum paid: it reports “hundreds of thousands of dollars”, and the $100,000-a-night island and roughly $70,000 fireworks figures are rates the vendors charge, not amounts shown to have been paid. The date on this row is May 24, 2026, the last night of the wedding.

Why it matters

A Russian oligarch described as close to President Putin paid hundreds of thousands of dollars of the president's son's personal wedding costs, and attended the wedding. The money moved through an entity affiliated with the boxing association Kremlev heads, which has been financed by the Russian state-owned company Gazprom. Trump Jr.'s spokesman said Kremlev is not someone he has a business relationship with.