Alina Kabaeva, 39, was notified of the latest update to the federal Office of Foreign Assets Control’s special nationals list, freezing any of her US assets and generally barring Americans from doing business with her. The move came a little more than three months after the White House said Kabaeva, a famous former rhythmic gymnast, was not safe from sanctions, nor anyone else, even after she withdrew at the last minute from a round of such penalties in April. UK officials had imposed similar sanctions on Kabaeva – who is now chairman of Russia’s New Media Group, the country’s largest private media company – in May. Western countries have imposed economic sanctions on associates and loved ones of Putin to punish the Russian president, 69, for his decision to invade Ukraine in February. The US has avoided a direct confrontation with Russia over the invasion, although it has offered billions of dollars in weapons and other resources to help Ukraine. The Kremlin has long denied that Putin, who is divorced, is romantically involved with Kabaeva, but various published reports suggest she is the mother of at least some of his children. A Moscow newspaper which, in 2008, reported that Putin and Kabaeva were involved despite the fact that he was still married at the time, was soon closed for undisclosed reasons. Kabaeva, originally from Uzbekistan, won gold at the Athens Olympics in 2004. She later spent more than six years as an MP in Putin’s United Russia party before taking over the National Media Group in 2014, her only previous experience in the company’s industry to be hosting a television show.
