- The former gymnast is targeted as one of the participants in hiding the president's fortune abroad.
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| Russian President Vladimir Putin and former gymnast Alina Kabayeva. |
The imposition of sanctions on Russia ranges from its oligarchs to the Russian president himself, but there is one person who has been saved for now: Alina Kabaeva, the alleged girlfriend of Vladimir Putin.
US officials do not want to make the current situation worse as the possibility of sanctioning the former Russian gymnast could reverberate in tensions between Russia and the US.
According to the US media Wall Street Journal, the US Treasury Department had a package of sanctions against Kabaeva, but they were lifted shortly before publication. The National Security Council requested his removal due to the "very personal" relationship with Putin, which could further damage US-Russian relations.
We have prepared sanctions for several people who have not yet been sanctioned, and we continue to think about when to impose those sanctions to achieve maximum impact.
The Biden administration does not rule out imposing future sanctions on more people related to the Russian president. Putin's adult daughters, Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova are on this long list that is expected to expand.
Russia's response has been to impose sanctions on Americans such as the husband of the US Vice President, Doug Emhoff, or the son of President Biden, Hunter Biden.
Relationship with former gymnast
The relationship between the president and the former Vogue model has never been confirmed, but foreign intelligence services point to the former Olympic gymnast as the leader's partner and mother of at least three of his children.
The relationship between the two emerged in 2008 when the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Korrespondent announced that he had divorced his wife and was engaged to Kabaeva. The medium closed after this publication.
I have always reacted negatively to those who with their runny noses and erotic fantasies lurk in the lives of others
The president declared that his private life did not allow interference and should be respected. US spies believe that Kabaeva is also one of the figureheads of the president's fortune.
The US Treasury Department suspects Alina Kabaeva of hiding President Putin's wealth and international assets abroad, according to the Wall Street Journal.