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The United States imposed sanctions on the romantic partner of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, part of the latest round of sanctions targeting Kremlin-linked officials and organizations in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Alina Kabaeva, 39, was among 13 Russian nationals added to the Treasury Department’s sanctions list. A former star gymnast with two Olympic gold medals, Kabaeva has become better known in recent years as the rumored boyfriend of the 69-year-old Russian leader.
The US announcement on Tuesday cited Kabaeva’s “close relationship” with Putin, although it did not specifically point to a romantic relationship. But the US government claims Kabaeva is the mother of at least three of Putin’s children, the Wall Street Journal reported, and had previously prepared a package of sanctions against her before making a last-minute decision in late April to delay, so as not to harm the prospects for a negotiated peace in Ukraine.
Kabaeva was also a member of Putin’s party in the State Duma and currently heads the pro-Kremlin National Media Group, which operates a network of television and radio stations and publishes newspapers in Russia. Kabaeva was already under EU and UK sanctions.
“While innocent people suffer from Russia’s illegal war of aggression, Putin’s allies have enriched themselves and funded lavish lifestyles,” Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said in a press release. “The Treasury Department will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that Russian elites and Kremlin proxies are held accountable for their complicity in a war that has cost countless lives.”
Kabaeva, who was born in Uzbekistan in 1983, rose to prominence in Russia as one of the most decorated gymnasts in rhythmic gymnastics. However, her sports career was not without controversy – she had to return two medals from the 2001 Goodwill Games after a doping scandal.
Kabaeva retired from the sport around the same time reports emerged that she was romantically involved with Putin.
The Kremlin has denied the alleged link. A Russian newspaper that published an article in 2008 saying Putin and Kabaeva were romantically involved was quickly shut down under mysterious circumstances.
Putin and his wife of 30 years, Lyudmila Putina, divorced in 2014.
Kabaeva and her family have benefited greatly from their connections to Putin’s entourage, according to Russian and American media reports. A classified U.S. intelligence assessment of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election named Kabaeva as a beneficiary of Putin’s fortune, the Journal reported in April, citing a U.S. official.
The lavish lifestyles of Putin’s alleged girlfriends have fueled speculation about their ties to the Russian president. The Pandora files, a trove of documents disclosed by The Washington Post and a consortium of news organizations last year, showed that another woman who allegedly had a romantic relationship with Putin owned a luxury apartment in Monaco and a shell company in the British Virgin Islands – even as it was not clear how she had amassed so much wealth.
Kabaeva was spotted in public for the first time in months in late April when she hosted her annual Alina Festival, a patriotic rhythmic gymnastics festival in Moscow. She stood in front of a backdrop emblazoned with the letter Z, the country’s symbol for its invasion of Ukraine.
The United States earlier imposed sanctions on Putin’s daughters from a former marriage, Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova, after evidence emerged of alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces during their occupation of the suburbs of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. Atrocities included the beheading and torture of civilians.
The latest sanctions target Russian elites and businesses operating in sectors “that generate significant revenue for the Russian regime,” it said.
In addition to Kabaeva, they include Andrey Grigorievich Guriev, founder of a Russian chemical company and owner of London’s second largest estate after Buckingham Palace, and Viktor Filippovich Rashnikov, majority owner and chairman of the board of MMK, one of the largest steel producers in the world. Two subsidiaries of MMK were also placed under sanctions.
The sanctions freeze the US assets of the targeted individuals and prohibit US individuals or entities from doing business with them.
The State Department, meanwhile, announced new sanctions against three Russian oligarchs and Kremlin-backed officials in areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian or proxy forces, including Mariupol and Kherson. The sanctions also target 24 Russian organizations related to defense and technology, including research centers.
“Our actions target some of Russia’s most important defense-related research and development institutions, semiconductor manufacturers, and advanced computer and electronics businesses,” Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement. “These actions will further isolate Russia’s defense and high-tech industries and limit their contribution to Moscow’s military machine.”
The department also imposed visa restrictions on nearly 900 Russian officials, as well as “31 foreign government officials who acted in support of Russia’s alleged annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and thereby threatened or violated the sovereignty of Ukraine.” .
Canada also unveiled a new round of sanctions on Tuesday targeting 43 military personnel and 17 organizations “complicit in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s senseless bloodshed,” including the atrocities in the Kiev suburb of Bucha, according to the Global Affairs Canada release.
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