Britain has hit Sergei Lavrov’s socialite stepdaughter in a string of new, severe sanctions. The aim is to economically cripple Russia following its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Britain has frozen the assets and assets of Polina Kovaleva 26, who it described as the stepdaughter Lavrov. According to the British government, she owns a London apartment worth $5.8million in Kensington, which she bought with cash.
The sanctions on 59 Russian and six Belarusian entities and individuals included state-run shipping firm Sovcomflot, private military contractor Wagner Group, also described as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s private army, and Alrosa, the world’s largest diamond producer with an estimated market value of $6.61 billion.
Activists protested outside her luxury apartment earlier in the month, claiming she was the victim of a hate crime. “daughter of a war criminal.”
“Putin should be under no illusions, we are united with our allies and will keep tightening the screw on the Russian economy to help ensure he fails in Ukraine,”Thursday’s statement by Liz Truss, Foreign Secretary. “There will be no let up.”
Kovaleva is reported to be Lavrov’s mistress.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also spoke out about the new sanctions, saying, “We’ve got to tighten the economic vice around Putin, sanctioning more people today, as we are, sanctioning the Wagner Group, looking at what we can do to stop Putin using his gold reserves, and also doing more to help the Ukrainians defend themselves.”
Truss stated that the 65 sanctioned entities and individuals were “oligarchs, businesses and hired thugs complicit in the murder of innocent civilians,” and all should “pay the price.”
Maria Pevchikh is an investigator for the Anti-Corruption Foundation that jailed Russian opposition leader Alexander Navalny. She recently wrote on Twitter that Kovaleva lived a lavish life in the West.