American financier Gentry Beach, who has ties to U.S. President Donald Trump’s family, signed an agreement with Russia’s energy giant Novatek last autumn to develop natural gas in Alaska amid Western sanctions against Russia, the New York Times reported on Friday.
In August, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska for talks aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
U.S. and Russian officials discussed several potential energy deals on the sidelines of the negotiations. Sources familiar with the talks said the business proposals were designed to encourage the Kremlin to agree to a peace deal in Ukraine and for Washington to ease sanctions on Russia.
The war is still raging in Ukraine after four years.
The New York Times, which spoke to the Texas financier, said he had quietly signed an agreement for Novatek to develop natural gas in Alaska.
He told the newspaper that the project was in its early stages and faced significant hurdles, declining to disclose the financial details.
Novatek told the newspaper it was “indeed having negotiations on the potential use” of its technology to liquefy natural gas in remote northern Alaska, but it did not confirm that it was working with Beach.
Novatek did not reply to a request for comment from Reuters. Beach was not immediately available for comment.
Beach is chairman and CEO of investment firm America First Global that holds interests in energy, mining and infrastructure. He helped raise funds for Trump’s election campaign in 2016 and contributed to shaping the administration’s “America First” economic and diplomatic agenda.
Beach is also a college friend of Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., according to the New York Times.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, editing by Andrei Khalip)