MOSCOW (AP) — Russian investigators shocked the country’s political world on Wednesday when they raided the home of Ksenia Sobchak, the attractive daughter of the former boss of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The 40-year-old TV star is often critical of Putin, but many Russian opposition officials refer to her as a Kremlin project. and finished fourth with about 1.7% of the vote.
Investigators said the search at Sobchak’s luxurious home in a prestigious Moscow suburb was part of an investigation into alleged misconduct by her media director, Kirill Sukhanov, who was arrested on charges of extortion.
Sobchak on Tuesday dismissed the accusations against Sukhanov as “enthusiastic and nonsense” and said his arrest was part of the authorities’ efforts to suppress the independent media.
State-run news agencies Tas and RIA-Novosti reported that Sobchak had fled Russia. Tas claimed to have bought tickets to Dubai and Turkey to mislead authorities, but eventually left for Belarus, from where he moved to Lithuania.
Sobchak has not commented on the allegations and her whereabouts are unknown.
Sobchak is the daughter of Anatoly Sobchak, the liberal mayor of St. Petersburg, who was deputized by Putin in the 1990s.
Sobchak has 9.4 million followers on Instagram and her charm, sharp wit and rebellious demeanor make her both loved and hated.
She initially rose to fame as a fashionable socialite and reality TV star, and was once dubbed the ‘Russian Paris Hilton’, but has since shed her spoiled and arrogant image. It was made.
Sobchak got involved in politics when he took part in mass protests against Putin in Moscow in 2011-2012, then reinvented himself as a no-nonsense TV journalist and opposition activist.
Sobchak has denied serving on the Kremlin agenda by running as a challenger to Putin in 2018. The campaign helped the Kremlin cast the opposition in a negative light.