Electoral battles

Of Course U.S. Candidates Have Ties to Russia

The attempts by Hillary Clinton's campaign to paint Donald Trump as the candidate of President Vladimir Putin has led to an intense search for the Republican nominee's Russian connections. Not much has turned up. But Russian oligarchs are among the Clinton campaign donors.

As of today, Trump's links to Russia are tenuous. His adviser Carter Page once worked for the natural gas giant Gazprom. His campaign manager Paul Manafort once worked for the deposed Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, who is often described as pro-Russian even though he spent most of his career trying to set Russia and the European Union against each other, Manafort also had unsuccessful dealings with a Russian billionaire, Oleg Deripaska, who is still trying to recover millions of dollars from him.