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Britain's "blacklist" of names to be subject to sanctions has included the stepdaughter of Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov. As pressure intensifies in the Kremlin, the assets of 26-year-old Polina Kovaleva are being frozen.
[/P]The beauty is the daughter of the Russian diplomatic chief's official mistress and is listed as the owner of a property in Kensington, London, which she reportedly bought for £4.5 million at the age of just 21.
The question is how, after Lavrov, sanctions were imposed on his stepdaughter as well.It all seems to have started with a tweet from a Russian journalist and activist, Maria Konstantinova. In it, she wrote that she would love to meet the stunning 26-year-old Russian from London. She also stressed that the young woman lives in a huge apartment in Kensington and that she loves to party, while her Instagram reminds her of an endless holiday.
Then in a new tweet the journalist suggested that a comment on the social media platform can solve a problem, in this case referring to the imposition of sanctions. "Sanctions were imposed on Polina Kovaleva. Luxury life in Britain is over. This would not have happened without all of you. Without the 70,000 likes," the activist wrote, among other things.
The revelation that the Russian foreign minister has a stepdaughter was made by Maria Pevkic, chief researcher at the anti-corruption foundation founded by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been jailed by Vladimir Putin's government.
Maria has released extensive information about Sergei Lavrov's stepdaughter. According to her claims, Lavrov has an official wife and an official "mistress."
Apart from his official wife, Maria Lavrova, with whom he has a daughter, everyone in Russia knows that Lavrov's companion is Svetlana Polyakova, with whom he has been having an affair for twenty years.
According to Maria Pevkic, Polyakova accompanies Lavrov on almost every diplomatic mission, travelling in the government aircraft.
Lavrov's companion has a fat piggy bank but no status or career. She has reportedly bought an apartment worth around eight million dollars in the heart of Moscow and maintains an impressive collection of expensive cars.
Lavrov's stepdaughter worked for Russian energy giant Gazprom before starting her studies.
Some time ago, a video of Kovaleva's interview on Imperial Business School's YouTube channel that was uploaded was met with criticism as many social media users condemned the prestigious university's decision to use her as part of the institution's marketing.
In recent years, Polyakova's mother has been on the staff of the Russian Foreign Ministry (since 2014), thus having the opportunity to accompany Sergei Lavrov on all his travels.
She has been at his side on many diplomatic missions, including to Greece, France , Italy, Switzerland, Japan, Singapore, Japan and Portugal.
The couple occasionally enjoyed lavish holidays and stays in luxury homes and yachts, including on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska's yacht.
The 71-year-old Lavrov's mistress has arranged for her friends and relatives to be settled in the Russian Foreign Ministry, the British newspaper Daili Mail reported.
The group of the jailed dissident, Alexei Navalny, had also published a video stating that Polyakova had used Sergei Lavrov's aircraft more than 60 times in recent years, flying from Japan and Singapore to Western Europe, accompanied by relatives.
She allegedly owns property worth €11.7 million in Russia and the UK, as well as several luxury cars worth a total of €440,000.
Sanctions against the Wagner Group
The British prime minister slammed the Wagner Group, seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin's private army, in the new package of sanctions imposed by Britain on Russia, calling on Western allies to "step up" support against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"Vladimir Putin is clearly determined to double down on the path he has taken of violence and aggression," Boris Johnson said in remarks after arriving in Brussels for an emergency NATO summit on Ukraine."
Calling Russian President Vladimir Putin's behavior "absolutely brutal," Johnson stressed: "We ought to step up. We ought to increase our support."
"We ought to tighten the economic vise around Putin by sanctioning more people today, as we are doing, sanctioning the Wagner Group, looking at what we can do to stop Putin from using his gold reserves and also doing more to help the Ukrainians defend themselves," he added."
Source: Proto Thema
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