Billboard: Kanye West plans to meet with Putin, make Russia his “second home”

By: Trent Fitzgerald, Colin Stutz

Kanye West is reportedly headed to Russia to meet the country’s president, Vladimir Putin, and find himself a new home.

According to a Billboard report on Tuesday (Jan. 11), Ye plans to go to Moscow to meet the Russian president, as well as hold multiple Sunday Services that will serve as his first-ever shows in the country. The ultimate purpose of the trip is for the Chicago rapper-producer is to begin expanding his businesses overseas.

Ameer Sudan, an advisor to Kanye, is reportedly helping coordinate the trip. Sudan and attorney Scott Balber are working as mediators between Ye and billionaire real estate developer Aras Agalarov.

Sudan told the publication that Russia is going to be “a second home” for Kanye. “He will be spending a lot of time out there,” he stated.

According to Billboard, Aras Agalarov, a close associate of Putin and, as president of the Crocus Group, one of Russia’s leading developers, is sometimes referred to as the “Trump of Russia” because of how he often self-brands his buildings. He and his son and business partner, Emin Agalarov, worked with Donald Trump to bring the 2013 Miss Universe pageant to Moscow and were in discussions about a Trump Tower development project in the country that failed to materialize. Later, the Agalarovs helped coordinate the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting where senior members of Trump’s election campaign met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya expecting to receive dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Ye is working on new business deals with the Agalarovs as well, according to Sudan, and while he could not disclose the details of those discussions, he projected they would increase West’s wealth to more than $10 billion. Last March, Bloomberg reported Ye was worth $6.6 billion thanks to his lucrative deals with Adidas and Gap, but Sudan claims that figure was conservative. The Agalarovs’ Crocus Group is responsible for over 4 million total square meters of developed property in Russia, according to the company’s website, and its portfolio of businesses includes shopping centers, superstores, fashion brands, department stores, boutiques and much more.

Read More: Report: Kanye West Is Going to Russia to Meet Vladimir Putin – XXL

Read More: Ye Planning Russia Trip to Meet Putin and Perform Sunday Service, Says Advisor – Billboard