![FILE - In this file photo taken on Tuesday, May 31, 2016, Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg attends the Russian International Affairs Council in Moscow, Russia. Vekselberg is being designated by US officials, sanctioned for operating in the energy sector of the Russian Federation economy. The United States hit seven Russian oligarchs and 17 Russian government officials with sanctions on Friday for what it called "malign activity" around the world. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)](https://twt-thumbs.washtimes.com/media/image/2018/04/06/russia_sanctions_78942_c0-205-3274-2113_s885x516.jpg?fb74aa6dac945b19ccb28480a0c8443a5c64f8d6)
Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking into payments a Kremlin-tied Russian oligarch made to President Trump’s personal lawyer.
Citing “a source familiar with the matter,” CNN reported[1] Tuesday evening that Mr. Mueller’s team was asking questions about hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to Michael Cohen by oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
Mr. Vekselberg, chairman of asset manager Renova Group, is one of the Kremlin figures slapped with U.S. sanctions over purported Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
He was not under sanction at the time of the payments from Renova’s U.S. subsidiary to Mr. Cohen, although the nature of his business relationship with Mr. Cohen remains unclear, CNN reported....
Mr. Vekselberg is one of two Russian oligarchs whose private jets were held in New York earlier this year while the FBI asked him about the nature of his relationship with Mr. Cohen, CNN reported.