Vladimir Putin's girlfriend has been slapped with strict sanctions by the United States in response to Russia ’s war in Ukraine.
Pregnant Alina Kabaeva, 39, is named on the federal Office of Foreign Assets Control’s specially designated nationals list, which means any of her US assets have been frozen and generally bans Americans from engaging with her.
Thirteen Russian nationals were added to the sanctions list, including the former star gymnast with two Olympic gold medals, Kabaeva who many say is the Russian warmonger's new girlfriend despite the 30-year age gap.
As well as being a sports star she was recently made chairperson of Russia’s New Media Group, the country’s largest private media company and is also sanctioned by the British government.
The announcement from the States cited Kabaeva’s “close relationship to Putin,” but it did not explicitly say this was a romantic tie.
But the US government believes Kabaeva is the mother of at least three of Putin’s children, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Kabaeva was born in Uzbekistan in 1983 and soon rose through the rhythmic gymnastics ranks before her career came crashing down after having to return two medals from the 2001 Goodwill Games after a doping scandal.
“As innocent people suffer from Russia’s illegal war of aggression, Putin’s allies have enriched themselves and funded opulent lifestyles," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a news release.
"The Treasury Department will use every tool at our disposal to make sure that Russian elites and the Kremlin’s enablers are held accountable for their complicity in a war that has cost countless lives."
The Kremlin has denied any romantic involvement of the pair and when a Moscow newspaper reported Vladimir Putin had divorced his wife and planned to marry an Olympic gymnast it was soon closed by its publishers after the Russian president angrily denied the report.
“There is not one word of truth in what you have said. I have always reacted negatively to those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others’ lives,” the former KGB spy said.
Igor Dudinsky, deputy editor-in-chief of the publication stood by the story, saying they received information and believed it was correct.
A classified US intelligence assessment of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US election listed Kabaeva as a beneficiary of Putin’s wealth.
The US is also imposing visa restrictions on 893 Russian Federation officials and "31 foreign government officials who have acted to support Russia's purported annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine and thereby threatened or violated Ukraine's sovereignty".
