Putin’s Billionaire Inner Circle Held Secret Talks With US Business on Mining Deals

Russian oligarchs long linked to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin reportedly held secret talks with US business figures over potential mining and energy deals, part of behind-the-scenes US diplomacy aimed at ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Oligarchs Gennady Timchenko, Yuri Kovalchuk, and brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg – all sanctioned and tied to the Kremlin leader since his youth – allegedly sent emissaries to covert meetings with US companies, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

The talks touched on rare-earth minerals, gas extraction, and even reviving the Nord Stream pipeline, according to WSJ sources and European intelligence officials.

The discussions suggest that if the war ends, Putin’s inner circle could win access to major new assets.

Rare-earth metals, gas fields, Arctic LNG

Sources said the oligarchs offered US firms concessions to extract gas in the Sea of Okhotsk and potentially four more regions. They also floated opportunities to mine rare-earth metals near nickel deposits around Norilsk – a massive mining city locked deep in the Siberian Arctic – and at six undeveloped sites in Siberia.

Among the specific projects, only one tied directly to Timchenko was named: Novatek’s massive Arctic LNG-2 plant.

The WSJ reported that Gentry Beach – a donor to US President Donald Trump’s campaign and a college friend of Donald Trump Jr. – has been in talks to buy a stake in the project.

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The potential participation of leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenka is particularly controversial. Europe’s commentators are unsparing in their criticism.

Earlier this year, an investigation by Radio Liberty’s “Systema” outlet found that Russia handed its only major rare-earth metals producer, the Solikamsk Magnesium Plant, to the state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

Mikhail Kovalchuk, brother of Yuri Kovalchuk, sits on Rosatom’s scientific council. Arkady Rotenberg’s construction firm, Stroygazmontazh, previously built parts of the Nord Stream pipelines.

But for most other projects listed by the WSJ – including gas fields in the Okhotsk Sea and rare-earth deposits – independent reporters found no direct links to Timchenko, the Rotenbergs or the Kovalchuks.

US corporations also listed in quiet contacts

The WSJ also described a wider network of quiet outreach involving major US companies and investors:

• Exxon and billionaire Todd Boehly reportedly looked at buying Lukoil assets.
• Trump donor Stephen Lynch asked Washington for permission to bid on Nord Stream 2.
• Elliott Investment Management considered purchasing a stake in the TurkStream pipeline.
• Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanov visited NASA, Boeing and SpaceX.

ExxonMobil executives also held secret talks with Rosneft’s Igor Sechin about a possible return to the Sakhalin-1 project, WSJ previously reported, though Exxon’s CEO later ruled out the company’s return.

The outreach aligns with Trump’s approach to pursuing peace arrangements driven by economic interests.

Putin’s finance envoy Kirill Dmitriev also pushed this idea in talks with Trump officials, proposing a plan that would let US companies use roughly $300 billion in frozen Russian central bank assets for joint ventures and Ukraine reconstruction.

EU diplomats feared the plan could undermine Europe’s own work on a “reparation loan” mechanism that would direct frozen Russian assets to Ukraine without giving the US control or profit.