Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian celebrity and politician, is understood to be looking to move to Spain in her bid to escape Vladimir Putin’s repressive regime.
Vladimir Putin’s ‘goddaughter’ is seeking to leave her repressive Russia and is said to have applied for residency in Spain.
Ksenia Sobchak, a television presenter, politician and influencer, who once posed for Playboy, is seeking digital nomad status, which means she must live in Spain for more than half of each year and pay taxes in the country. The 43-year-old, who once opposed Putin for the Russian presidency and runs her own media outlet, has not commented.
Reports in Spain say the socialite has applied for a residence permit for herself and her eight-year-old son Plato, and whispers that she has already bought a luxury home. This comes amid looming economic chaos in Russia, caused by Putin’s war and Western sanctions, but also as a crackdown on criticism of the dictator intensifies.
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Sobchak already has a five-year EU Schengen visa granted by France and an Israeli and Russian passport that allows him to travel freely around Europe for up to 90 days every six months. Putin attended her childhood Orthodox baptism before becoming Russia’s president, prompting reports that he was her godfather.
He was close to his late father, Anatoly, who acted as a mentor to the former KGB spy and gave him his first job in politics when he was mayor of St. Petersburg. While Sobchak is considered pro-opposition, many Putin enemies are suspicious of her stance and believe she has remained personally close to the dictator.
In 2018, when she ran for president, she was criticized for showing that there was a pro-liberal candidate in Putin’s rigged election. His participation was described as a “farce.”
In 2023, she attended a “naked party” with other celebrities that outraged Putin and she was forced to offer an abject apology. But unlike other participants, she was not punished.
Sobchak’s mother, Lyudmila Narusova, 74, is a Russian senator who often votes alone against Putin’s repressive measures. Two years ago he questioned Putin’s sanity on the war and warned that he would not hand over power.
“I’m the only one who votes [against him]” he told the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europa. “But there are enough people who think the same as me. “What happens is that they are afraid to say it out loud.”
