Britain has added Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ex-wife and family to the sanctions list to target the financial networks that underpin Putin’s “luxury lifestyle,” Liz Truss said.
The new sanctions target Putin’s family and friends’ wallets. Russian leaders “reward the status and wealth of the state in return for their timeless loyalty,” the Foreign Ministry said on May 13.
Official Russian records only list Putin’s understated assets, such as a small apartment in St. Petersburg, two Soviet-era cars of the 1950s, a trailer, and a small garage.
However, according to the British government, Putin “relies on a network of selected elites who benefit from family, childhood friends, and his dominance, and thus support his lifestyle.”
Putin’s “luxury lifestyle” is on display on a regular basis, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, with a £ 566m ($ 693 million) yacht and a $ 1 billion ($ 1.2 billion) “Putin Palace”. I reported that I have published a link to. Rothenberg approved by the United Kingdom in December 2020.
In a statement, Foreign Minister Liz Truss said: We will continue to support Putin’s invasion and impose sanctions on all who are betting on it until Ukraine becomes widespread. “
Among the newly licensed ones is Putin’s ex-wife Ludmila Okeletonaya. Since she divorced the president in 2014, she has benefited from “priority business relationships with state-owned enterprises,” the Foreign Ministry said.
One of the most famous figures on the list is Alina Kabaeva, a retired Olympic gymnast who is widely reported to be Putin’s mistress. “She is said to have a close personal relationship with Putin,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Kabaeva previously sat as adjutant to Putin’s United Russia Duma and was promoted to chairman of the National Media Group, which is reported to be Russia’s largest private media company. Her grandmother has also been sanctioned.
Putin’s first cousin, Igor Putin, director of the Pechenga International Seaport, was also targeted along with another businessman and relative, Mikhail Putin, who is the vice chairman of the management committee of energy giant Gazprom.
Roman Putin, the first cousin who was once dismissed, has been publicly disclosed about his relationship with the Russian president, and this family connection is his company Putin Consulting helping Russian foreign investors. He emphasized how he made it possible, the Foreign Ministry said when he sanctioned him.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the UK has sanctioned more than 1,000 individuals and 100 groups.
PA Media contributed to this report.
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