When President Trump attends the annual National Prayer Breakfast Thursday, he will be amongst an unusually large number of Russians.
CNN:
As many as 60 representatives from Russia's religious and political elite are expected to attend, more than three times last year's number, according to Russian officials.
One Russian official who was invited, Aleksandr Zharkov, told the Russian business newspaper RBC, "It's a very unique situation, because despite all these difficulties we have (in relations with the US), the quota for Russians is very high this year."
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Two Russian officials said a "Russia house" -- a space to hold informal meetings -- would be organized at the event. However, the Russian government is not sending an official delegation.
CNN reports it is not clear whether one particular Russian invitee – Alexander Torshin – plans to attend.
Torshin attended last year's National Prayer Breakfast with his special assistant, Maria Butina. In a long Facebook post after the event, Butina wrote, "American liberal (in the American sense of the word "liberal") media are attacking their president over and over again for his position on Russia. This is the time when Russia itself has to make a step towards [America] and show that we are ready to cooperate with Trump."
Torshin himself was due to meet Trump at the Washington Hilton before last year's breakfast, but the White House canceled the invitation at short notice, Butina told Yahoo News last year.
Toshin has close ties to Vladimir Putin, is suspected of being connected to organized crime, and spoke with Donald Trump Jr. during an NRA dinner in Louisville, KY in May 2016.
While the Fellowship Foundation hosts the National Prayer Breakfast and it is "designed to bring together leaders from the political, religious and business realm on behalf of the US Congress," at least one bishop tells CNN he knows religion is not why most of his fellow Russians are attending.
"I suppose the majority of members of the (Russian) delegation don't want to pray; they want to mingle," he said. And many might be attending to "try to solve their own problems, that is -- their name possibly appearing in future sanctions lists."
Big Russian delegation anticipated for prayer breakfast in Washington (CNN Politics)