Who Is Umar Kremlev? The Russian Oligarch Who Partly Funded Trump Jr.’s Wedding Celebrations

In 2024, Kremlev acquired Rolf, Russia’s largest car dealership group, which had previously been state-owned.

“These services,” Triplett says in reference to the Kremlin, “are exceptional at finding pain points and then and then manipulating them, and you can get people into difficult positions.”

Kremlev has been connected with Putin for years, as has been documented through public appearances and business dealings. 

During Kremlev’s time as IBA president, Gazprom, a state-owned energy company and one of the largest companies in Russia, became a financial backer of the boxing federation. 

That same year, Kremlev stood alongside Putin during the opening of the International Boxing Center in Moscow.

“Umar is guided by Putin. It was using the sport for soft political power,” an ex-IBA board member told ProPublica of Kremlev’s leadership of the organization. “It’s geopolitics. That it’s boxing is just happenstance.”