Vladimir Putin's 'Goddaughter' Flees To Lithuania Hours After Russian Police Raid Her Home
Oct. 27 2022, Published 5:30 p.m. ET
Vladimir Putin’s alleged goddaughter was caught on video fleeing Russia for Lithuania just hours after police raided her home, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Ksenia Sobchak, a 40-year-old Russian TV star, opposition critic, and long-rumored goddaughter to Putin, was captured on CCTV footage crossing into Lithuania by way of Belarus on Wednesday afternoon.
According to Daily Mail, Sobchak’s escape came just a few short hours after Russian police raided her Moscow home in connection with the arrest of her media director, Kirill Sukhanov, who was taken into custody on charges of extortion earlier this month.
Before the raid, Sobchak criticized the allegations against her media director as “ravings” and “nonsense.” The TV star also claimed Sukhanov’s arrest was nothing more than an attempt by Russian authorities to “stifle” independent media outlets throughout the country.
The CCTV footage of Sobchak crossing the Belarus border into Lithuania also reportedly showed her traveling with an unidentified man.
Around 1:30 PM local time, Sobchak passed through the Belarus passport control before being accompanied by two uniformed men into Lithuania. She was believed to have used an Israeli passport to get through.
“So far we do not have intelligence information that she may pose a threat to the Lithuanian state,” Lithuania's Director of the State Security Department, Darius Jauniškis, said after confirming Putin’s goddaughter entered the country.
“If there was such information, of course, certain measures would be taken,” Jauniškis added.
Sergei Markov, a Russian political scientist, claimed Sobchak was “tipped off” by a “high-ranking official” that she was facing arrest, leading to her abrupt escape.
As RadarOnline.com reported earlier this month, Putin demanded his goddaughter be arrested for “spreading falsehoods about government agencies.”
Sobchak was also reportedly under investigation for “public dissemination of deliberately false information about the execution of its authority by a government agency."
She once criticized Putin publicly in 2018 after she faced off against the Russian leader in the country’s presidential election that year.
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"In a system created by Putin, it is only possible for Putin to win,” she said after placing fourth in the 2018 election. “I am realistic about who will become the president.”
Sobchak also came under fire earlier this year after she was accused of leaving Russia in protest against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine – although she denied the allegations at the time.
“I am Russian, I am a citizen of Russia,” Sobchak said. “I do not emigrate anywhere; I have no other citizenships.”
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