A mysteriousJanuary 2017 meeting in the Seychelles between a close associate of President Donald Trump and a Russian banker with alleged ties to Vladimir Putin has come under renewed scrutiny this week.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has been gathering evidence about the rendezvous, which took place less than two weeks before Trumps inauguration. Mueller is reportedly looking to see if the meeting was meant to set up a secret back channel between Trump and Putin, the Russian president. George Nader, an adviser to the United Arab Emirates who was at the meeting, has been cooperating with Muellers probe, and it appears his testimony could help unlock several major questions about the affair.

Heres what you should know about the Seychelles meeting.

Why was there a secret meeting in the Seychelles?

The UAE arranged the meeting in the Seychelles Islands in January 2017, just days before Trump assumed office, The Washington Post first reported last April. The location may have been chosen for its relative discretion.

The Seychelles is the kind of place where you can have a good time away from the eyes of the media, the countrys secretary of state for foreign affairs told the Post at the time.

Erik Prince, a longtime supporter of Trumps campaign and the founder of the Blackwater private security firm, met with a Russian official linked to Putin, although Prince has described the meeting as an unplanned chance encounter.

Its not clear what Prince and the official talked about. But according to The New York Times, Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner, eventual national security adviser Michael Flynn and then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak discussed the possibility ofsetting up the communications channelin a December 2016 meeting.

The Washington Postalso received an anonymous letter claiming that Kushner, Kislyak and Flynn talked about arranging a meeting between a representative of Trump and a Russian contact in an unidentified third country. The Posts Adam Entous told MSNBC that the letter said Flynn was deemed too high-profile to do the trip.

Kushner has denied that the request took place.

Who else was there?

Prince met with Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian banker who manages a government-controlled wealth fund and is also thought to be close to Putin.

The meeting was set up by the UAE and the countrys de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan. Nader served as a representative for the Middle Eastern nation and had met Prince before, serving as a consultant for Blackwater.

Prince has said he went to the Seychelles as a private businessman, and has denied the original report by the Post. He told the House Intelligence Committee in November that he had no plans to meet with Dmitriev, but Emirati officials convinced him to go to the bar at the hotel he was staying in to have a drink.

One of the entourage says, Hey, by the way, theres this Russian guy that weve dealt with in the past, Prince told lawmakers. Hes here also to see someone from the Emirati delegation. And you should meet him, hed be an interesting guy for you to know, since youre doing a lot in the oil and gas and mineral space.

He claimed they only spoke about oil prices and how much the UAE wished for resumption of normal trade relations with the USA.

What is Mueller investigating?

Nader has been cooperating with Muellers probe since mid-January and recently gave testimony about his knowledge of the meeting in front of a grand jury, according to a report in the Times this week. He allegedly served as a representative of the crown prince, and the Times notes that Emirati officials believed Prince was serving as a representative of the Trump transition team and Dmitriev as an envoy from the Kremlin.

In an earlier story, the Times noted that Mueller has widened the scope of his probe and is also investigating whether the Emiratis were attempting to buy influence with Trump.

Naders recent testimony could contradict Princes statements over the past year and shed light on the true reasons for the meeting.

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Here's What You Should Know About That Secret Seychelles ...