Alina Kabaeva, 39, a former Olympic gymnast and rumored to be the mistress and mother of at least one of President Vladimir Putin’s children, is being sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, as part of a strategy to sanction Russian oligarchs and associates of President Putin in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Although many claim that sanctioning Russian elites will do nothing to change Putin’s stance on Ukraine, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen disagrees, and said, “As innocent people suffer from Russia’s illegal war of aggression, Putin’s allies have enriched themselves and funded opulent lifestyles.” She said the 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.”
“Together with our allies, the United States will also continue to choke off revenue and equipment underpinning Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine,” she continued.
Kabaeva has been linked to Putin romantically, but Putin has not confirmed their relationship.
Currently the head of a pro-Russian government media group, Kabaeva was formerly a member of the Russian parliament.
She has already been sanctioned by the UK, Canada and the European Union.
Putin’s daughters, Mariya Putina and Katerina Tinkonova, have also been sanctioned, along with others close to Putin, over the past few months.
