Who is Alina Kabaeva? Vladimir Putin's alleged girlfriend facing EU sanctions

The sanctions imposed by the EU and others are designed to punish those closest to Putin -- the oligarchs, politicians and other officials, said to have benefited from their proximity to the President, said the BBC report.

Russia is already under unprecedented sanctions due to its invasion of Ukraine and now the European Union (EU) could target Alina Kabaeva, a politician, media boss, former Olympic gymnast, and, if the rumours are true, President Vladimir Putin`s girlfriend and mother to some of his children, according to a media report.

The sanctions imposed by the EU and others are designed to punish those closest to Putin -- the oligarchs, politicians and other officials said to have benefited from their proximity to the President, said the BBC report.

Last month, the US and UK imposed sanctions on Putin`s daughters Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova. They are his children with former wife Lyudmila. Until now, Kabaeva has escaped, despite her reported status. She might have felt something was coming: an online petition in March demanded her expulsion from her residence in Switzerland, says the BBC report.

Sources have confirmed to the BBC that she is on the latest list of individuals to be sanctioned by the EU. The Russia, leader has always been intensely private. When asked about his private life, he has tended to brush off the queries.

He has, though, explicitly denied a relationship with Kabaeva. In 2008, the Moskovsky Korrespondent newspaper reported that he was planning to divorce his wife Lyudmila and marry Kabaeva. Both rejected the story and soon after, the authorities shut the newspaper down. Putin and Lyudmila however, announced their split five years later, the BBC reported.