The woman reported to be Vladimir Putin's mistress has been sanctioned by the UK Government. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss announced today (May 13) that the Russian President's ex-wife and family members had also been added to the ever-growing UK sanctions list.
Alina Kabaeva, a retired Olympic gymnast, is widely reported to be Putin's mistress. A UK official described her as having a "close personal relationship" with Putin.
Unconfirmed reports suggest the 2004 Athens gold medalist has been engaged to the Russian leader and has had his children. The UK Government announced the latest sanctions as it continues to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine
Ms Truss said: "We are exposing and targeting the shady network propping up Putin's luxury lifestyle and tightening the vice on his inner circle. We will keep going with sanctions on all those aiding and abetting Putin's aggression until Ukraine prevails."
Official records list Putin's assets as being fairly unnoteworthy, including a small flat in St Petersburg, two Soviet-era cars from the 1950s, a trailer and a small garage. But UK aides said that in reality the 69-year-old relies on his "wallet" of family and childhood friends, along with a hand-picked set of elites, who have benefited from his rule and in turn support his lifestyle.
But despite officially owning few assets, Putin is reported to have displayed a lavish lifestyle, with the Whitehall department pointing to reports exposing links to a £566million yacht and a $1billion 'Putin palace' – officially owned by close associate, Arkady Rotenberg, who was sanctioned in December 2020.
As well as Kabaeva, those newly placed on the sanctions list - which has frozen the assets and placed UK travel bans on more than 1,000 individuals and 100 entities - include former first lady of the Russian Federation and ex-wife of Putin, Lyudmila Ocheretnaya. Since her divorce from the president in 2014, she has benefited from "preferential business relationships with state-owned entities", officials said.
Igor Putin, a first cousin of the leader and director of Pechenga International Sea Port, has also been targeted, along with Mikhail Putin, another businessman and relative who is deputy chairman of the management board of energy giant Gazprom. Roman Putin, a first cousin once removed, has been publicly open about his relation to the president and emphasises how this family connection enabled his company, Putin Consulting, to help foreign investors in Russia, the Foreign Office said when sanctioning him.
UK officials said Russia is in the grips of the worst recession since the end of the Cold War after being hit by international sanctions. "What you see at the moment is a kind of veneer of perhaps stabilisation," one official said.
"If you go to Moscow and drink coffee in a nice cafe, you may not witness it. But below the surface there is some real panic in the Russian economic system."
The announcement comes after the Foreign Secretary urged a meeting of G7 foreign ministers to maintain sanctions against Russia until it has fully withdrawn from Ukraine. She also said a "clear pathway to Nato-standard equipment" needed to remain in place for Kyiv if it was to secure long-term security in the face of Russian aggression.
