Putin’s girlfriend on sanctions list, no longer welcome in EU

This is evident from today’s publication of the new EU sanctions list in the Official Journal.

Alina Kabayeva is a former Olympic, World and European champion in rhythmic gymnastics. After her sports career, she was a member of the State Duma, the Russian parliament. She also headed the National Media Group, which is jointly responsible for all state media in the country.

Never confirmed

She has been in a relationship with Putin since 2008. However, the Kremlin has never officially confirmed this. When a gossip magazine wrote about the relationship that year, according to good Russian custom, it was immediately shut down.

Putin’s ex-wife Lyudmila Ocheretnaya and two of their daughters also faced these punitive measures.

About Kabayeva – and all the speculation about her having children with Putin – we wrote this article last month:

The new sanctions list also includes high-ranking military personnel who are held jointly responsible for the Butsha and Mariupol massacres. There, many innocent civilians were killed by Russian troops.

two butchers

Sanctions include a Colonel known as the “Butsha Butsha” and the Colonel General nicknamed “The Butcher of Mariupol”. In total, the EU has 65 people in its sights.

The publication of the new sanctions marks the 100th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The toughest sanction in the package is a ban on imports of Russian crude oil by sea. The ban will go into effect in six months.

Oil on the ground

In eight months, the import of refined products from Russia to the EU will be banned. EU banks and financial institutions are also no longer allowed to insure or finance ships carrying Russian oil. This makes it more difficult for Russia to sell the oil to countries outside the EU.

Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, landlocked EU countries dependent on the Russian pipeline, will have more time to adapt their infrastructure. Europe wants to quickly introduce an import ban on imports of Russian onshore oil, but no date has yet been set.

Germany and Poland have already declared that they will give up Russian oil this year, which they import by land. The oil boycott should have cut off around 90% of Russia’s oil supplies to the EU by the end of this year.

Grateful Zelensky

In addition, Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, two other Russian banks and a Belarusian bank are cut off from SWIFT, the international communication service for banks. The EU will also ban three Russian public channels.

Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky expresses his gratitude to EU leaders on Twitter. “The sixth sanctions package increases pressure on Russia by withholding oil profits,” he wrote.

Earlier this week, RTL Nieuws reported on the consequences of the oil boycott for the Netherlands: