Andrei Kostin, head of Russia's state-run VTB Bank, reaches to his mantelpiece into a thicket of framed pictures of him with President Vladimir Putin and picks out a photo in which he is standing with Hillary Clinton, then US secretary of state. "If you publish this, it could affect her chances to be president! They’re always trying to find the Russian trace," he jokes. "I don’t have one with Mr Trump, unfortunately."
Mr Kostin, who talks about his time in the Soviet diplomatic service with a knowing wink, has good reason to follow the US election closely. VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank, has seen its plans to become a major player in global finance dashed by US and EU sanctions over the Ukraine conflict in 2014.
