What was Rinat Akhmetshin, a former Soviet army draftee in a law enforcement (with "some counterintelligence" duties) unit, doing at the Trump Jr-Veselnitskaya meeting?

[Quantum]

I thought that the person of Rinat Akhmetshin is fertile ground for speculation and lends itself well to a discussion led by writers and readers of thrillers. ^_^ What could've been discussed with a former Soviet army draftee in a law enforcement (with "some counterintelligence" duties) unit? Is it overblown? Is he just your regular joe just trying to eke out a living as a lobbyist? Or is he underplaying it? How likely is it that Akhmetshin is the weak link? How deep was Akhmetshin's involvement in counterintelligence? Cyberwarfare?

Akhmetshin said he never worked as an intelligence agent, but he did say he was drafted as a teenager and served for two years in a unit of the Soviet military that had responsibility for law enforcement issues as well as some counterintelligence matters. He immigrated to the United States in 1993 and gained citizenship in 2009.

“I was not an intelligence officer. Never,” he said.

(https://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...)

And in this article, he describes his background more. He emigrated after the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since he's a citizen, we can assume that he was sufficiently vetted, right? But then again there have been plenty of native-born US citizens who've been found guilty of espionage. (The motivation was money, for the most part.)

“I am an American citizen since 2009 who pays taxes, earned his citizenship after living here since 1994, and swore an oath of loyalty to the United States of America,” Akhmetshin, a dual Russian-American citizen, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty last year.

(http://www.businessinsider.com/donald...)

Other related articles:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/14/politic...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/15/politic...

[[deleted user]]

While nothing can be proven for or against his claims, my feeling would be to not trust this guy with a ten-foot pole. The fact that his presence at this infamous meeting was not revealed at first by either Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manaford or Jared Kushner already makes him suspect in my eyes. Did they knew about his past, or were they so negligent and unconcerned that they utterly failed to even gather some basic information on him and other participants before the meeting?

[Nik]

Alex wrote: "Akhmetshin said he never worked as an intelligence agent, but he did say he was drafted as a teenager and served for two years in a unit of the Soviet military ..."

As an army is compulsory in Russia (unless there are exempting circumstances) and anyone gets drafted into military by default, his military service per se is not something outstanding...
Rinat Akhmetov is the richest Ukrainian. Now there is Rinat Akhmetshin? Becoming confusing -:)

[Quantum]

yes, two years in the army sounded like the standard draft term. otoh, he noted that he was in a law enforcement unit with some counterintelligence duties. I wonder what that was about? maybe military police? and in the Soviet era, how much was the military police under the control or influence of the intelligence services?

[[deleted user]]

That sounds like he was possibly in the MVD, the Soviet-era border guard service. He could also have been part of KGB military troops. There were so many different 'security' forces around the USSR that it was nearly a joke.

[Ian]

Since the Soviet Union broke up over 25 years ago, I am not sure that should be held against him. Further, he is an American citizen, so why shouldn't he be there? As for why the others did not mention him, maybe they couldn't recall him if he did not say much - or even they may not have remembered enough to spell his name properly.

Unless he said anything about intelligence gathering at the meeting, why would anyone bother? As for doing research, how do you if you can't recall the spelling of his name? Since this meeting ended up being about orphans and not anything juicy, my guess everyone not the Trump side was too pissed off to be taking notice, and were just wishing they could be somewhere else. How many meetings have your guys been to where it suddenly gets taken over by someone with some agenda that has nothing to do with what you came for, and you can't shut them down? Never doodled on a pad, or spent the time wondering about lunch? If not, then you've been in the wrong part of society to judge, you are fibbing, or your are a freak.