Putin’s Rumored Girlfriend Alina Kabaeva Sanctioned By United States

After holding off on sanctioning Alina Kabaeva, the suspected girlfriend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, months ago, the U.S. recently amended that decision and hit the former Olympian with a sanctions package.

Kabaeva had already been faced with sanctions from the United Kingdom and E.U., and a statement from the U.S. Treasury said she “has a close relationship to Putin and is the current head of National Media Group, a pro-Kremlin empire of television, radio, and print magazines.”

Janet Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury, added that Kabaeva and other Russian elites “have enriched themselves and funded opulent lifestyles,” while the Ukraine War continues to rage on.

Putin and his ex-wife Lyudmila were married from 1983 until 2014.

He and Kabaeva were first rumored to be romantically linked in 2008, at the same time as when she retired from gymnastics and began working in the Russian Government as a State Duma deputy.