Photo of Trump in Moscow is real, but not from his first visit in 1987

Over the years, people have shared an image allegedly showing a 41-year-old Donald Trump during his first visit to Moscow in July 1987. Users’ posts claimed Yuri Dubinin, the Soviet Union’s ambassador to the U.S., invited Trump to the event. The posts promoted the long-standing claim that the future U.S. president has secret ties with Russia.

The black-and-white picture features Trump standing at a gathering of men in a large room, wearing a tie and overcoat, holding a drink glass and surveying a buffet table.

For example, on Aug. 18, 2026, a Reddit user posted (archived) the image with the caption, “Future reality tv show host, Don Trump, 41 years old, in Moscow at the invitation of Soviet Ambassador to the U.S., Yuri Dubinin. July 1987.”

(SteveNtheseagulls accessed via Reddit)

Other users have shared the picture and rumor on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), LinkedIn (archived) and X (archived). Some posts featured additional claims about Trump’s plans for a Moscow hotel and his 1988 purchase of the Plaza Hotel in New York, as well as the claim that officials for the KGB — the former Russian secret police and intelligence agency — recruited him as an asset.

Trump’s 1987 book “The Art of the Deal” says a Dubinin invitation did take the 41-year-old future president to Moscow for the first time in July 1987, in part to survey sites for potential Trump hotel properties. 

The image is an authentic photo of Trump in Moscow, meaning it was not created with artificial intelligence or other digital tools, but it doesn’t show him during that initial trip. Instead, it shows Trump visiting the Russian capital at age 50 in November 1996, reportedly during a second trip surveying sites for real estate development opportunities, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Dubinin was not the ambassador to the U.S. at that point. (Trump never ended up building any such property.) As such, we’ve rated this claim miscaptioned.

Beyond the claim’s age and year inaccuracies, no available evidence has credibly and conclusively confirmed Russia secretly recruited Trump as an asset. We previously reported the facts about a former Soviet and Kazakh security official claiming the KGB recruited Trump in 1987, finding no solid proof for the claims.

The Associated Press credited photographer Igor Tabakov with taking the picture in question on Nov. 5, 1996. The AP’s caption read, in part, “In this Nov. 5, 1996, file photo, American real estate mogul Donald Trump, left, visits a reception, as he checks out sites in Moscow, Russia, for luxury residential towers.”

The rumors presented alongside the photo follow the trail of other Trump and Russia claims, in particular Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. A Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee report published in 2020 detailed findings on that matter, telling of a “grave counterintelligence threat” and that Trump associates expected to benefit from the Kremlin’s help.

This article documents some of the information known about the other claims that have appeared with the picture on social media.

Trump’s first visit to Russia in July 1987

In Trump’s “The Art of the Deal,” the author describes Trump meeting Dubinin at a luncheon, apparently in 1986. The book describes Dubinin’s daughter as being familiar with Trump Tower:

A prominent businessman who does a lot of business with the Soviet Union calls to keep me posted on a construction project I’m interested in undertaking in Moscow. The idea got off the ground after I sat next to the Soviet ambassador, Yuri Dubinin, at a luncheon held by Leonard Lauder, a great businessman who is the son of Estee Lauder. Dubinin’s daughter, it turned out, had read about Trump Tower and knew all about it. One thing led to another, and now I’m talking about building a large luxury hotel, across the street from the Kremlin, in partnership with the Soviet government. They have asked me to go to Moscow in July.

Later in the book, the author continues, saying Trump flew with his first wife, Ivana Trump, to Moscow on July 4, 1987:

In January 1987, I got a letter from Yuri Dubinin, the Soviet ambassador to the United States, that began: “It is a pleasure for me to relay some good news from Moscow.” It went on to say that the leading Soviet state agency for international tourism, Goscomintourist, had expressed interest in pursuing a joint venture to construct and manage a hotel in Moscow. On July 4, I flew with Ivana, her assistant Lisa Calandra, and Norma to Moscow. It was an extraordinary experience. We toured a half dozen potential sites for a hotel, including several near Red Square. We stayed in Lenin’s suite at the National Hotel, and I was impressed with the ambition of the Soviet officials to make a deal.

Later that July, Trump reportedly (archived) told the Press of Atlantic City, a New Jersey-based newspaper, that the Moscow trip did not go well, saying he had given up hopes of building a hotel after Russian officials offered only a joint venture with Trump having a minority control of the property.

A Reddit user posted a photo allegedly showing Donald and Ivana Trump standing in Moscow during the July 1987 visit. That post got the city wrong; the photo was taken at St. Petersburg’s Palace Square. A Washington Post article captioned the photo as, “Donald Trump and his then-wife, Ivana Trump, visit St. Petersburg in 1987.”

(chennai94, accessed via Reddit)

The Plaza Hotel

Users who shared the black-and-white Trump photo captured in 1996 (not 1987, as they claimed) presented the timing of Trump’s Plaza Hotel purchase as suspicious.

For example, one Facebook post (archived) alleged, in part, that during Trump’s 1987 visit to Russia he received loans from 16 banks and purchased the Plaza Hotel for $407.5 million.

Research in newspaper archives via Newspapers.com located past reporting on that matter.

In 1988, The Business World, a New York Times Magazine publication, reported Trump received a $425 million loan “provided by a consortium of banks led by Citicorp,” as well as that he allocated $407.5 million of the total to his purchase of the hotel and 22 Central Park South.

At the time, Trump spokesperson Howard Rubenstein reportedly credited (archived) Trump’s interest in purchasing the Plaza Hotel with Trump admiring the property from his office window. “He keeps looking out and seeing things. That’s how he got involved in the [Wollman] skating rink, and now this.”

In 1995, The New York Times published news of Trump selling the Plaza Hotel to a Saudi Arabian prince and one of Singapore’s leading entrepreneurs. According to the article, banks in the U.S. originally lent money to Trump for his 1988 purchase, with banks in Japan holding a mortgage on the property. The story did not mention Moscow or Russia.

Trump’s November 1996 Moscow trip

On Nov. 7, 1996, USA Today reported (archived) Trump as telling The Moscow Times about his trip to Russia, “We’re looking at building a super-luxury residential tower, which I think Moscow desperately wants and needs.”

The newspaper printed the article two days after Tabakov captured the black-and-white photo of Trump and nearly a decade after his first visit to Moscow.

Voice of America and The Washington Post published further reporting providing more details of Trump’s past pursuits to expand his real estate empire in Russia.

Sources