Sanctions should be imposed on Vladimir Putin’s secret girlfriend to "hurt" him, a former US intelligence officer has argued.
It was reported yesterday the US deliberately avoided sanctioning Alina Kabaeva at the last minute due to concerns it would enflame tensions with Russia.
The 39-year-old former Olympic champion is long-rumoured to be 70-year-old Putin's mistress but ducked restrictions when the National Security Council intervened, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Russian-born former US intelligence officer Rebekah Koffler believes this was a misstep and the US should continue to target those closest to the Russian leader.
Speaking on Jesse Watters Primetime, the 'Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America' author said that sanctioning Kabaeva would "certainly hurt” Putin, both from a personal and financial standpoint.
“Unfortunately, she is not capable of stopping Putin from waging war on Ukraine. But, it will certainly hurt,” Koffler said.
“It will make her life miserable, and it will definitely, definitely (cause) some damage to his holdings, his wealth that is stashed away in all kinds of tax havens including spread among his relatives and family.”
Koffler criticised the decision not to sanction the Olympic gold medallist.
“The Treasury and the State Department have put together a Draconian sanctions package, but then the Biden Administration has backed out at the last minute, and this is completely ridiculous because they have already done so much rhetoric that it is perceived by the Russians as a total war on Russia, believe it or not,” she said.
Kabaeva is said to have given birth to three children to the Russian leader, and grown wealthy thanks to her links to him.
Government officials told the Wall Street Journal she remains a potential target of sanctions.
"We have prepared sanctions on a number of people who haven't yet been sanctioned, and we continue to think about when to impose those sanctions for maximum impact," an official said.
Over the weekend the alleged mistress wore a £1,915 from a British-based designer as she led a patriotic-themed gymnastics ballet in which she linked the defeat of Hitler’s Nazis to the Russian fight against Ukraine.
The 38-year-old reappeared in Moscow last week after rumours that she was hiding in a Swiss chalet, or a Siberian nuclear bunker, following the start of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Kabaeva was filmed at a performance backed by a uniformed military choir.
The event included some of the Soviet Union’s most patriotic songs in a celebration of the country’s victory over the Nazis.
Also featured was the ‘Z’ symbol, which has been likened to a Russian swastika invented for the war in Ukraine and now used as a nationalistic rallying point.
The full show will be broadcast on 8 May, the eve of a vast Red Square military parade commemorating ‘Victory Day’ - the end of the Second World War.
