Trump Ally Signs Deal With Russia's Novatek To Explore Alaska's Gas Reserves.
🇺🇸 An American financier with connections to Donald Trump's family has reportedly signed a deal with Russian energy giant Novatek to develop natural gas in Alaska.
The agreement, reported by the New York Times, emerged after a meeting in August between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, where talks aimed to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
During these discussions, US and Russian officials explored several potential energy deals.
Sources close to the talks suggested these business proposals were intended to incentivise the Kremlin towards a peace agreement in Ukraine and for Washington to ease sanctions on Russia.
The conflict in Ukraine, however, continues to rage four years on.
Gentry Beach, the Texas financier, confirmed to the New York Times that he had quietly signed an agreement for Novatek to develop natural gas in Alaska.
He stated 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.
After the 🇲🇽 Mexican military killed drug cartel kingpin Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, widely known as El Mencho, officials detailed the weapons recovered in the firefights.
The stockpile included a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, 10 long arms, handguns, and grenades, officials said.
Mexico Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said that, as with other Mexican crime scenes, about 80% of the recovered weapons were bought in the United States and smuggled across the border. The details were shared in a Feb. 23 news conference, a day after the killing of El Mencho.
Gun ownership in Mexico is tightly restricted. There is only one military-run gun store in the country, in Mexico City, where weapons sales are strictly regulated. But easy access to guns in the United States has created an "iron river" of firearms flooding Mexico's black market.
"Our gun laws and gun industry practices fuel an iron river of firearms trafficking that supplies Mexican drug cartels and other criminal elements in the region," Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin from Illinois said in a news release in 2025, announcing a bill he hoped would rein in the gun smuggling.
US-made guns at Mexican crime scenes Statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives roughly back up Mexico's figures, that the vast majority of weapons in Mexico come from the United States.
Countries around the world ask the ATF to trace weapons found at their crime scenes. The ATF said 74% of the guns used in a crime were linked to a U.S. purchaser from 2017 to 2021.
Foreign Affairs › Trump's Ally Signs Deal With Russia's Novatek To Explore Alaska's Gas Reserves by WriterNig(op): 5:41pm On Feb 25*. Modified: 6:56pm On Feb 25
