The EU (European Union) is exploring the possibility of sanctioning Alina Kabaeva, a politician, director of a pro-Kremlin media conglomerate, former Olympic gymnast, and – according to many rumors – Vladimir Putin’s girlfriend and mother to some. children. Sources confirmed to the BBC that he is on the list of people to be sanctioned by the EU soon.
The sanctions imposed by the EU and other countries are aimed at punishing people close to Putin – oligarchs, politicians and other officials who say they take advantage of his friendship with the president.
Last month, the US and UK sanctioned Putin’s daughters, Maria Vorontsova, 36, and Katerina Tikhonova, 35. They are Putin’s daughters with his ex-wife Lyudmila.
So far, despite the rumors, Kabaeva has not been sanctioned. But he must have had a hunch that this was about to change: In March, an online petition demanded that the woman be evicted from her Swiss residence.
He will be the target of his involvement in the dissemination of Kremlin propaganda and being “closely related” to Putin, according to AFP. Said draft does not classify her as Putin’s girlfriend, and the EU has not yet officially signed the document.
Russia’s leader has always kept his private life out of the media’s agenda. When asked about his private life, he tends to ignore the question.
However, in the case of the alleged affair with Kabaeva, Putin flatly denied this.
Image: AFP
In 2008, the newspaper Moskovsky Korrespondent reported that he plans to divorce his wife Lyudmila and marry Kabaeva. Both denied the news. Shortly after, the authorities shut down the newspaper. Five years after this incident, Putin and Lyudmila would announce their separation.
At that time, Kabaeva was in the middle of a career transition – she retired from sports and entered politics.
In the sport, she was one of the best athletes of her generation in rhythmic gymnastics, where competitors perform routines with the help of equipment such as ribbons and balls. Russia has won every Olympic gold medal competing in the category from 2000 to 2016.
Born in 1983, she started rhythmic gymnastics at the age of four. Her trainer, Irina Viner, said, “When I first saw her, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The girl has a rare combination of two important qualities in rhythmic gymnastics: flexibility and agility.”
Kabaeva was recognized as “the most flexible woman in Russia.”
He made his international debut in 1996 and won the 1998 European Championship.
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, an error with the hoop cost him dearly (which allowed him to roll off the ground), and he only took the bronze medal in the overall event. He did better by taking the gold home in Athens four years later.
Image: Visual China Group
When he retired, he won 18 World Championship medals and 25 European Championship medals, in addition to Olympic awards. Like other Russian athletes, he could not escape the doping scandal and lost his medals at an event in 2001 after testing positive for a banned substance.
After that, he entered politics and took part in the Lower House of the Russian parliament from 2007-2014 with the ruling United Russia party.
In 2014, he became chairman of the National Media Group, which owns large holdings in almost all major Russian state media.
These media outlets are constantly broadcasting a pro-Kremlin agenda about the war in Ukraine, accusing Ukrainians of bombing their cities and presenting Russian troops as liberators.
Her position has made her a wealthy woman, and leaked documents show she earns around $12 million a year.
It is not known when he met Putin. There is a photo of the couple in 2001, when Putin awarded him the Order of Friendship, one of Russia’s highest state honors.
Image: AFP
There are rumors that they have children, but accounts differ on how many.
A Swiss newspaper reported that Kabaeva had a baby boy at a clinic near Lake Lugano in 2015 and another boy at the same location in 2019. But the Sunday Times and Wall Street Journal said they had twins in Moscow in 2019. . children he already has.
The Kremlin denies everything. In 2015, Putin’s spokesman said, “The information about the birth of a baby by Vladimir Putin is not true.”
Putin is so closed off about his private life – he never publicly said the names of his children with Lyudmila, he only mentioned that he has two grown daughters – speculations are likely to continue unconfirmed.
Kabaeva has always been in the limelight since news broke out about her affair with Putin.
She made the cover of Vogue in 2011, wearing an expensive gold dress by luxury brand Balmain. She also held the torch at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
More recently, in April, she appeared at a youth gymnastics festival in Moscow after speculation that she was hiding. On this occasion, he praised Russia’s war effort. Some outlets noticed that she was wearing a wedding ring.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, calls for sanctions have been made.
The Wall Street Journal suggested that the United States was reluctant to sanction Kabaeva, fearing that it could be seen as “too personal a blow” for Putin and could further escalate tensions.
But the measure is not completely excluded. When the White House was asked in April why it was not on the US sanctions list, the press secretary replied, “Nobody is safe.”
source: Noticias
