The socialite ex-wife of Russia's deputy defence minister has snuck into Britain and visited her son who is apparently hiding from Russian conscription.
Svetlana Maniovich has been living a luxury lifestyle in Europe, with St Tropez villas, yachts and Rolls-Royces and now it has been revealed she visited England.
The minister Timur Ivanov’s stepson is believed to be studying at a UK university - safe from the conscription that has seen tens of thousands of young Russians killed after being forced to fight.
Investigators from the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), say that Timur and Svetlana Maniovich had a “pre-emptive” divorce last summer, allowing Svetlana to dodge the EU sanctions that were later applied to her husband.
At least once during the war, Svetlana travelled business class by Eurostar to London to visit her son Mikhail, 19, who studies at a university in England. Her Eurostar trip allegedly came before the couple’s “sham” divorce in August 2022.
FBK provided evidence from a leaked email trove of her Eurostar trip to London on 23 March last year, a night when Kyiv was shelled by Ivanov’s forces.
The stepson who has shared skiing trips with Ivanov, and been seen with him at Moscow social events, lists himself as studying business management at Oxford Brookes University.
The Russian opposition groups plan to protest outside Svetlana's Paris home and think she should be banned from living in or visiting France because of her ex-husband’s involvement in the brutal war in Ukraine.
The FBK acquired over 8,000 messages sent over 12 years and say the cache of emails suggests no actual separation took place.
According to Svetlana’s emails, her family spent €850,000 (£758,000) on villa rentals in St Tropez and €250,000 (£223,000) on yachts between 2013 and 2018.
She reportedly went shopping in Paris and Geneva, once paying €104,000 (£92,800) for a diamond ring and €150,000 (£133,8000) for earrings.
Other purchases included a Dolce & Gabbana dress for €59,500 (£53,000) and a set of 19th-century furniture for €85,000 (£75,850), bought in Belgium.
President Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, and his wife went to Svetlana's birthday party the year before the war in Ukraine broke out.
FBK said that Svetlana’s bills were often paid by other people or corporations, including Olimpsitistroy which is a contractor for the defence ministry.
“Anybody in Paris? We’re organising an event for everybody who’s not OK with war criminals living comfortably in Europe,” Maria Pevchikh, head of investigations for FBK, wrote on Twitter.
Svetlana was spotted partying a few weeks ago in the wealthy ski resort town of Courchevel, donned in diamonds and furs.
Maria Pevchikh, head of investigations at the FBK, said that a court found that Svetlana got her hands on an illegal Israeli passport, and legally divorced her husband five months after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Maria described the wealth being spent across Europe as “blood-soaked” cash.
Previous investigations by FBK have alleged that Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister, “hid” an $18 million mansion by registering it under the name of family members, including his 18-year-old daughter.
In 2021, the organisation said that a billion-dollar palace had been built for Putin’s use on the Black Sea coast.
