Representatives for Kanye West are conflicted about reports that the rapper intends to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on an upcoming business trip to Moscow.
Billboard reported on Tuesday that West’s strategic advisor, Ameer Sudan, told the publication that West is working on business deals with Russian billionaire, Aras Agalarov, a close associate of Putin, who helped orchestrate the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between the former president’s campaign with a Russian lawyer, to allegedly learn information about Hillary Clinton.
Agalarov’s lawyer, New York based Scott Balber, who along with Sudan, is coordinating the trip, confirmed “there are talks going on” between his client and the music mogul.
West supposedly plans to collaborate with Agalarov’s musician son Emin, and hold a Sunday Service performance with Putin as his special guest. Sudan claims that Russia will be “a second home” to the rapper, who “will be spending a lot of time out there.”
Russia is currently a diplomatic thorn in the United States side, as 100,000 troops are poised to invade ally Ukraine. The country is currently listed by the U.S. State Department as a level 4 “do not travel” risk, but West is reportedly not concerned.
“This is Ye, Ye is going to get there regardless. What are they going to say? He’s going to be a special guest of the Agalarovs,” Sudan remarked. “Kanye knows what’s going on more than the average human being, he’s well aware of things. And it’s nothing against the United States or to cause conflicts, but Ye is Ye — he can’t be controlled.”
According to West’s public relations representative, Sudan is mistaken. Pierre Rougier said the Billboard story is “entirely fabricated.” Going on to slam the article as a “work of fiction or wishful thinking from these Russian people.”
West himself has remained mum about the reports. His Twitter account has been inactive since his unsuccessful presidential bid in November 2020, and his Instagram has been wiped clean except for a single post announcing his company Yeezy’s upcoming collaboration with The Gap and Balenciaga.
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