Vladimir Putin's rumoured girlfriend Alina Kabaeva hit with new round of US sanctions

By Team Newsable | First Published Aug 3, 2022, 1:35 PM IST

The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the government has frozen the visa of Alina Kabaeva, an Olympic gymnast in her youth and former member of the state Duma, and imposed other property restrictions.

A new round of US sanctions targeting Russian elites includes a woman named in news reports as Vladimir Putin’s longtime romantic partner. Alina Kabaeva, a former state Duma member and Olympic gymnast in her childhood, has had her visa blocked by the government, according to the Treasury Department, which also announced various property limitations. She is also the CEO of a Russian national media organisation, according to the department, which supports Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Sanctions against Kabaeva have been demanded by Kremlin critics and imprisoned Russian rights activist Alexey Navalny because they claim that her news organisation was the first to characterise Western opinion on the invasion as a misinformation operation.

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In May, the UK sanctioned Kabaeva, and in June, the EU placed asset and travel restrictions on her. Andrey Grigoryevich Guryev, an oligarch who owns the Witanhurst estate, a 25-bedroom home that is the second-largest estate in London after Buckingham Palace, is also mentioned in Treasury's most recent round of penalties.

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The Alfa Nero, his $120 million yacht, was also listed as banned property. His son Andrey Andreevich Guryev and his son's Russian business company Dzhi AI Invest OOO were also sanctioned.

"What we've observed is that the US government has determined that a lot of oligarchs are utilising family as a vehicle to escape sanctions," said Christian Contardo, a former Treasury attorney who is currently with Lowenstein Sandler LLP.

The US placed sanctions on Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova, two of Putin's adult daughters, in April. Viktor Filippovich Rashnikov, the chairman of the board of directors for the Russian steel producer Publichnoe Aktsionernoe Obschestvo Magnitogorskiy Metallurgicheskiy Kombinat, better known as MMK, and its affiliates were also targeted for financial penalties.

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In addition, 893 Russian Federation officials, including Federation Council and military members, would have their visas banned, according to State Department report. As stated by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, "we will continue to seek accountability for President Putin and his cronies whose activities have caused so much pain and damage in Ukraine and will continue to stand with the heroic people of Ukraine."

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