with close ties to putin and also manafort s client. as soon as they found out what he was up to, in 2005 they fired him. they also emphasized the work the iri continues to do to advance democracy worldwide. it seems unthinkable that this brainchild of ronald reagan and chaired just before his death by john mccain was used unwittingly as a vehicle for russian intelligence. according to our source, that s exactly what happened. that didn t just involve pushing the kremlin s interest in ukraine. russian journalists set up a new website called the project, under daraposka s direction, manafort and kolinik were helping a russian official in kyrgyzstan. it was home to a major u.s. air