NEWSBUGworldwide

News of money previously given to House Speaker Mike Johnson's congressional campaign by Russian nationals has re-emerged after the Republican rejected a $95 billion foreign aid bill passed in the Senate. Newsweek reported this. İt is noted that in 2018, a group of Russians were able to donate to Johnson's bid for the Louisiana seat he eventually won as the money was funneled through the Texas-based American Ethane company. While American Ethane was co-founded by American John Houghtaling, at the time it was 88 percent owned by three Russian nationals—Konstantin Nikolaev, Mikhail Yuriev, and Andrey Kunatbaev. Nikolaev is known to be a top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. A spokesperson for Johnson previously assured in 2018 that the campaign returned the money that was given to them by American Ethane. Newsweek says that a number of social media users have now brought up the campaign money amid Johnson's opposition to the long-debated foreign aid bill, which would send $60 billion to Ukraine as the country continues to fight off Russia's invasion. Ukraine-based blog Fake Off posted on X: "US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson received campaign contributions from American Ethane, a company 88% owned by three Russians. Now, do you understand why he was categorically against the aid to Ukraine?" Another social media user added, while sharing a clip of Johnson's press conference: "Astonishing that the Speaker of the House for the United States Government accepts money from Russia". Nikolaev and his two partners currently own a third of Globaltrans, Russia's biggest private rail transport operator.