Earlier this year, as Donald Trump returned to the White House to serve his second term, an ex KGB officer claimed that Trump was recruited by Moscow in 1980s. And now, Trump has accidentally fueled these unverified claims. His statement has left people wondering if the rumors are indeed true.
The Guardian quoted Yuri Shvets, a former Soviet intelligence officer of Ukrainian origin. He served a s a key source for journalist Craig Unger’s book American Kompromat.
Shvets told the portal, “This is an example where people were recruited when they were just students and then they rose to important positions; something like that was happening with Trump.”
He claimed that it was KGB operatives who suggested him to go into politics. He said that KGB was “immensely impressed by his personality and believed this is the guy who should be the president of the United States one day: it is people like him who could change the world. They fed him these so-called active measures soundbites and it happened.”
A similar claim was made in 2018 by another spy in a Facebook post. Alnur Mussayev claimed that he “worked in the 6th Department of the KGB of the USSR in Moscow” in 1987. He mentioned, “The most important area of work of the 6th Department was the acquisition of spies and sources of information from among businessmen of capitalist countries.”
Further in his post, he claimed that Trump was recruited by KGB and even got a nickname. He said, “It was in that year that our Department recruited the 40-year-old businessman from the USA, Donald Trump, nicknamed “Krasnov”.”
Now, during a recent cabinet meeting, Trump had a major slip-up as he said he “was activated”, a term which is generally associated with Russian undercover spies. The mention of him being “activated” has now sparked concern among people especially amid the ongoing rumors of his unverified association with Russia.
In his address, Trump extended his support to his friend, Elon Musk, who is going through a rough time. He said, “Elon, I want to thank you, I know you’ve been through a lot with this. It’s very unfair. He’s a patriot. He’s become a friend of mine. He’s never asked me for a thing. He could have. I always wonder if he’s ever going to ask me for something. But he’s never asked me for a thing.”
“I got rid of the electric car mandate. I have no idea how that affects him but possibly not good. I don’t know. He still never asked me for a thing. I think that’s an amazing attribute,” he added.
In a questionable choice of words, he said “I got activated last week when I saw what people were doing to him.”
A reporter questioned, “Zelenskyy says he believes some members of your team has been influenced by Russian information. What do you say?”
To this, Trump replied, “Well probably they have been influenced to get this thing settled. Ukraine wants to see it settled, Russia wants to see it settled.”
After the cabinet meeting, an X user tweeted, “Never in a thousand years did I ever imagine living in the United States of Russia. Pathetic.”
Trump says he ‘got activated last week’ in disturbing slip up amid fears he is Russian asset https://t.co/Q4LE5Mxlpn Never in a thousand years did I ever imagine living in the United States of Russia. Pathetic.
— everybody don’t like cats (@EverybodyD59983) March 24, 2025
Another Internet user wrote, “Did Donald Trump just see the quiet part out loud? At this press conference. He got activated last week.”
During the meeting, Trump also mentioned that people sabotaging Tesla would face serious consequences. He stated, “Pam Bondi is doing a great job with these investigations. When she finds them, they are going to suffer grave consequences because they’re terrorists. I think that the people that are financing them could very well be people that I know. Those people are in big trouble, so they better cut it out. But Elon is a patriot. We want to thank you for the job you’ve done.”
Last week, the president tweeted, “People that get caught sabotaging Teslas will stand a very good chance of going to jail for up to twenty years, and that includes the funders. WE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU!!!”
