Yanukovych resided—when Kilimnik wrote “I met today with the guy,” and with a December 2016 email in which Kilimnik referred to Yanukovych as 916 “BG,” Grand Jury█ █ █ █ █ █ Manafort replied to Kilimnik’s July 29 917 email, “Tuesday [August 2] is best . . . Tues or weds in NYC.” Three days later, on July 31, 2016, Kilimnik flew back to Kiev from Moscow, and on that same day, wrote to Manafort that he needed “about 2 918 hours” for their meeting “because it is a long caviar story to tell.” Kilimnik wrote that he would arrive at JFK on August 2 at 7:30 p.m., and he and Manafort 919 agreed to a late dinner that night. Documentary evidence—including flight, 920 phone, and hotel records, and the timing of text messages exchanged — 921 confirms the dinner took place as planned on August 2. As to the contents of the meeting itself, the accounts of Manafort and Gates —who arrived late to the dinner—differ in certain respects. But their versions of events, when assessed alongside available documentary evidence and what Kilimnik told business associate Sam Patten, indicate that at least three principal topics were discussed. First, Manafort and Kilimnik discussed a plan to resolve the ongoing political problems in Ukraine by creating an autonomous republic in its more 922 industrialized eastern region of Donbas, and having Yanukovych, the 923 Ukrainian President ousted in 2014, elected to head that republic. That plan, Manafort later acknowledged, constituted a “backdoor” means for Russia to 924 control eastern Ukraine. Manafort initially said that, if he had not cut off the discussion, Kilimnik would have asked Manafort in the August 2 meeting to convince Trump to come out in favor of the peace plan, and Yanukovych would have expected Manafort to use his connections in Europe and Ukraine to support 925 the plan. Manafort also initially told the Office that he had said to Kilimnik that the plan was crazy, that the discussion ended, and that he did not recall 926 Kilimnik asking Manafort to reconsider the Ian after their August 2 meeting. Manafort said Grand Jury█ █ █ █ █ ██ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ that he reacted negatively to Yanukovych sending—years later—an “urgent” 927 request when Yanukovych needed him. When confronted with an email written by Kilimnik on or about December 8, 2016, however, Manafort