The U.S. government has imposed sanctions on Alina Kabaeva, a former Olympic gymnast believed to have a secret family with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Treasury on Tuesday, August 2, described the 39-year-old gold medallist as having ‘a close relationship to Putin.’
Putin has always denied that they are romantically linked or that he has two children with her.
The latest round of sanctions, designed to force Putin to think again over his attack in Ukraine, also targets Publichnoe Aktsionernoe Obschestvo and Magnitogorskiy Metallurgicheskiy Kombinat (MMK), one of the world’s biggest producers of steel as well as its majority owner Viktor Rashnikov.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said: ‘As innocent people suffer from Russia’s illegal war of aggression, Putin’s allies have enriched themselves and funded opulent lifestyles
‘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.’
Several other countries including The United Kingdom have sanctioned Kabaeva, and they made no secret that they believed her to be Putin’s lover.
She was spotted in public in June soon after the moves, appearing at the Black Sea resort of Sochi at a rhythmic gymnastics training camp with 28 children.
News outlet Moskovsky Komsomolets commented that she had ‘lost quite a lot of weight.’
They said: ‘Alina loves expensive stylish outfits, which, being the head of the National Media Group, she can afford”
‘Alina talked with the children in white trousers, a lilac long sleeve [blouse] and a matching cardigan.
‘The tanned star covered her eyes with stylish white-framed sunglasses. ‘
