Russian ties to Lulzim Basha party, as attempting to manipulate Albanian elections

“A former supporter of the Trump campaign working as a lobbyist, a half-million dollar fee, a conservative Albanian political party, four Republican congressmen, Breitbart News and secret companies linked to Russia. These are some of the elements inciting the suspicion that the Russians were secretly using Republicans in Washington in an effort to promote political conflict in the Balkans”, the article says at its outset.

The magazine describes a complicated story, starting a year ago with the Scottish company Biniatta Trade, created by “Asvero Corporation & Lymitez Commons”, based in the fiscal paradise, Belize.

Whether or not, the two companies registered in Belize, which stood behind the Biniatta Trade were both bound and controlled by Russians”, the article follows.

<x0) KF Global Management”, both registered in Great Britain, first with top shareholders of over 75 percent, Evgeny Sheretyev, and second with Konstantin Ferulev, both Russian citizens.

“Binita Trade” paid a Republican lobbyist and former associate Donald Trump's campaign called Nick Muzin “to help Albania's Democratic Party” -- a total amount amount amounting to $150,250x3>, the magazine says.

The payment was conducted several months before the 25 June parliamentary elections, and at the time when the Albanian Democratic Party had entered a protest against the Government.

Furthermore, the scripture follows with a brief description of Nick Muzin. Mother Jones says he's a law graduate at Yale. Following Donald Trump's inauguration as president, he failed to become part of his administration, but on March 31st, 2017, he enrolled in the Department of Justice as a lobbyist with the Albanian Democratic Party client, with whom he had signed a contract earlier.

The “The contract signed by Nick Muzin and the Democratic Party by Lulzim Basha requires on the part of the lobbyist to promote the Democratic Party and the Albanian right in the United States and to determine that it will be paid $250,000 for three months, March, April and May”, the magazine follows in its writing.

The magazine recalls that at that time the country was in an extremely polarized political climate. For weeks, the DP protested before the prime minister and had rumours that the DP and its allies would boycott the June elections. The country was addressing the riots, and the Democratic Party called for republican aid in Washington.

At the end of March, writes Mother Jones, Nick Muzin arranged a visit to Lulzim Basha in Washington, where the agenda was also a meeting of three Republican congressmen, Ed Royce, Dana Rohrbacher, also named as Vladimir Putin's favorite Congressman and Pete Sessions. Basha also attended the National Republican Committee Congress, where Donald Trump spoke.

After that, Nick Muzin contacted Stephen Bannon, at that time a weightful adviser to Trump and other White House officials on behalf of Basha and organised his interview from “Breitbart News”, an ultraconservative website of online information directed by Stephen Bannon until he joined the Trump campaign in 2016.

If Basha were to secure support in the US, he would pump this into Albania. Among the conservatives he was family, but contrary to the pro-European and pro-Western attitude of Albanians, Lulzim Basha was flirting with nationalist populism and pushing more and more with the slogan “Make Albania Great Again”, further added.

“Mother Jones” recalls the Democratic Party's stance on justice reform, and especially the veto, which according to the magazine was persistently demanded by the European Union.

“Pak ahead of the elections, Basha and Rama reached an agreement that enabled them to hold parliamentary elections. A week and a half before these elections were held, Basha returned to the United States during a charity meeting organised by Republican Scott Walker, where Donald Trump would be present. It took $ 20,000 to get into the VIP area at this event, which allowed a photo of Donald Trump. Basha managed to get his picture of Donald Trump and claim to have had an extraordinary meeting with him”, further added.

However, the scripture follows, Trump's magic did not work with Basha, since he did not win the elections.

The magazine also adds that lobbyist Nick Muzin refused to answer questions addressed by her, while the Albanian Democratic Party has not responded to an email sent earlier.

The article is author David Corn, Hannah Levinova and Dan Friedman.

The magazine “Mother Jones” came out for the first time in February 1976 as a progressive magazine with a focus on information, comments, investigations and political, economic, human rights and culture coverage. The articles and investigations are the winners of many U.S. awards.