McCain Adviser Has Russian Telecom Ties

A top adviser to John McCain's campaign, former lobbyist Charlie Black, previously represented a Moscow think tank run by former Russian Telecommunications Minister Leonid Reiman. BKSH Associates Inc. received $50,000 in 2005 for lobbying the US National Security Council and other government agencies on behalf of the nonprofit think tank headed by Reiman, lobby filings show. Black founded the firm and served as chairman until he quit in March. The filings don't make clear what the lobbying effort sought. Reiman, who has long been a close associate of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is now an adviser to President Dmitry Medvedev. Advisers inside the McCain campaign have faced criticism over their lobbying ties, given the candidate's frequent complaints about lobbyists' influence. Russia's invasion last month of its southern neighbor, Georgia, has complicated the equation, as top McCain advisers have lobbying ties to both sides. In May, Sen McCain (R-AZ) banned campaign staffers and aides from working as registered lobbyists or working on behalf of foreign interests. But the policy doesn't address longtime foreign lobbyists such as Black who have recently left their firms. Mr. Black has been singled out for criticism by some liberal interest groups. A spokesman for Sen McCain said that the former lobbying efforts of the candidate's advisers don't mean their advice to the Republican standard-bearer is compromised. The fees to Black's firm were paid by the Center for Development of the Information Society, known by its Russian acronym as the RIO Center. When the RIO Center hired BKSH in 2005, Reiman was chairman of the RIO Center's board of trustees. Black and BKSH also registered in 2003 as foreign agents for the Russian government-controlled Russian Information Agency for a fee to BKSH of $10,000 a month. The firm agreed to "arrange meetings for visiting dignitaries...[and] provide counsel to foreign principal relating to the United States Congress, the Executive Branch, and other U.S. political entities," a Justice Department filing states.