You’ve no doubt seen this guy before. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He’s usually busy lying through his teeth about something on behalf of his pal Vladimir Putin.
FM #Lavrov: Facts have been uncovered of a dangerous bioweapons programme that Pentagon has been carrying out in Ukraine. Now that🇷🇺armed forces have acquired access to these documents, the US has been trying to cover its tracks. We will be fighting for the truth to come out. pic.twitter.com/0sNs3MUH5W
— Russia in RSA 🇷🇺 (@EmbassyofRussia) March 23, 2022
What I didn’t know until today is that Lavrov has a step-daughter named Polina Kovaleva who lives in a fabulous house in London. But as of today, the UK has put Polina on the sanctions list along with 64 other new additions.
Vladimir Putin’s private army, the Russian Foreign Minister’s stepdaughter and a billionaire friend of Roman Abramovich are among 65 new individuals and organisations being sanctioned, the Government announced on Thursday.
Polina Kovaleva, the defacto stepdaughter of the Russian minister Sergei Lavrov was among those who will have their assets frozen, the Foreign Office said.
The 26-year-old owns a £4.4million flat in Kensington and is the daughter of Mr Lavrov’s alleged mistress Svetlana Polyakova.
The official announcement of the sanctions states that the sanctioning of Polina, “sends a strong signal that those benefiting from association of those responsible for Russian aggression are in scope of our sanctions.”
Earlier this month I wrote about the Russian oligarchs who have spent as much as a billion dollars buying up property in London in the last few years. Lavrov’s stepdaughter was apparently one of those individuals. But there’s a bit more backstory to all of this. In fact, Lavrov isn’t exactly Polina’s step-father. As this Russian investigative reporter who works for Alexei Navalny pointed out two weeks ago, Lavrov and a lot of other wealthy Russians have two families, one official and one unofficial.
I would like you to meet Polina Kovaleva. Polina is a 26-year-old glamorous Russian girl from London🇬🇧. She lives in a huge apartment in Kensington and loves to party, her instagram feed looks like a non-stop holiday. That’s not unheard of, but there is one small detail…(THREAD) pic.twitter.com/6OsVGjPxQQ
— Maria Pevchikh (@pevchikh) March 10, 2022
Putin’s cronies often have two families at the same time. Putin himself, while being married to Ludmila Putina, had a second family with former gymnast Alina Kabaeva. Minister of Defence Shoigu had two wives and two sets of children simultaneously. And Lavrov is no different. pic.twitter.com/0HnI7kNFPi
— Maria Pevchikh (@pevchikh) March 10, 2022
Unlike Lavrov's official wife, that woman is loaded. She bought an apartment in Moscow worth $6-8m. In the picture below you can see Svetlana’s car collection. Not bad for an unemployed lady. pic.twitter.com/b26Sef4RwC
— Maria Pevchikh (@pevchikh) March 10, 2022
Our glamorous Londoner Polina is her daughter from a previous marriage. Here are the pictures that Polina took at her mom’s house in Moscow. There are portraits of Lavrov on the table, very cute. On the third shot you can see Lavrov himself in the flesh. pic.twitter.com/K13R5cv8Yz
— Maria Pevchikh (@pevchikh) March 10, 2022
And that’s how 21-year-old Polina was able to buy her $5 million apartment in London, paying for the whole thing in cash.
She paid cash. No mortgage. £4.4m. Can anyone explain how this is possible? Her only source of money is her unemployed mother who happens to be Lavrov’s informal wife. This is the textbook example of unexplained wealth. The property can be legally seized right now.
— Maria Pevchikh (@pevchikh) March 10, 2022
I think I mentioned that Lavrov’s job is to lie through his teeth.
Lavrov gave numerous speeches about the evil anglo-saxon world and the awful liberal western countries who want to destroy Russia and Ukraine. So why on Earth does his step-daughter live in the centre of London? Why not in Crimea or Donbass, why doesn’t she move there? pic.twitter.com/YPuCAB5hhV
— Maria Pevchikh (@pevchikh) March 10, 2022
So this thread from two weeks ago called for the apartment to be seized and now it seems on the verge of happening.
Here is the list of the Lavrov family members who should never be allowed to set foot on the UK soil ever again:
Polina Kovaleva 04.06.1995
Svetlana Polyakova 28.11.1970
Tamara Polyakova 01.05.1948
Valeria Polyakova 09.08.2003
Sergey Lavrov 21.03.1950— Maria Pevchikh (@pevchikh) March 10, 2022
Many of the photos of Polina come from her personal Instagram account. Like a lot of other young girls she spends a lot of time there documenting her lavish lifestyle. Unfortunately, some of those photos provided a roadmap for investigators in Lavrov’s own connections. Last September, Maria Pevchikh released this video investigation into Lavrov, his family and his close connections to a particular Russian oligarch. As you’ll see, Polina’s Instagram photos played a role in identifying several significant locations. Maybe that’s why her account is now private.
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