Questions raised about Trump's new ties to Putin friends creating a fresh 'backchannel'

Donald Trump's newfound relationship with two Russian mixed martial arts figures known to be close to Vladimir Putin is raising fresh questions about whether the Russian president is setting up a new "backchannel" to reach out and manipulate the man who will presumably be the Republican Party presidential candidate.

According to a report from the Daily Beast's Anna Nemtsova, Trump has lately been meeting with "notorious" UFC fighters Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev, both described as Putin friends, and that is raising some eyebrows.

The report notes that the two fighters "took the opportunity to talk international diplomacy" recently with Trump that led Kremlin news agencies and television channels to broadcast the former president "promised Nurmagomedov to stop the war in Ukraine."

That was followed by Trump boasting about his meeting with Nurmagomedov, calling him on Truth Social “probably the Greatest Fighter of All Time. I met him at the UFC event on Saturday night in New Jersey," and then adding, "A really smart guy - Big things in the future for Khabib!”

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"Grigory Shvedov, Russia-based editor-in-chief of Caucasus Knot, says that Khabib 'is very influential, he is a thought leader,'" wrote Nemtsova before adding, "He explained that the Kremlin pays close attention to people like Makhachev and Nurmagomedov 'so they would not have any critical attitude for the authorities.' The KGB was always sure to cultivate a close, controlling relationship with any Russian athletes who rose to the international level and it is certain that the FSB now does similar with the current generation of global sports stars. It is unknown whether that relationship would stretch as far as asking them to pass on messages to people like Trump."

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