Russian investigators have raided the Moscow home of Ksenia Sobchak, the daughter of Vladimir Putin’s former boss and mentor.
Ms Sobchak, 40, made a name for herself as a socialite and reality TV star and was known as “Russia’s Paris Hilton” before becoming a television journalist and opposition activist.
She is the daughter of the late Anatoly Sobchak, the first democratically elected mayor of Saint Petersburg, where Mr Putin served as an MP in the 1990s.
Ms Sobchak became a vocal critic of the Russian president – running in the 2018 election as an opposition candidate – but only securing fourth place and 1.7% of the vote.
Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny claims she came forward with the aim of making the contest more democratic – and described her as a ‘parody liberal candidate’.
According to Russian news agencies Tass and RIA-Novosti, police raided Ms Sobchak’s luxury home on the outskirts of Moscow as part of their investigation into alleged wrongdoing by its media director.
Kirill Sukhanov was arrested for extortion, which he denies.
Ms Sobchak dismissed the charges against Mr Sukhanov as “delusions and nonsense” and said his arrest was part of authorities’ efforts to stifle independent media.
9.4 million Instagram followers
His whereabouts are still unknown.
Russian state media say she bought plane tickets to Dubai and Turkey to fool authorities, but in fact left Russia via Belarus to go to Lithuania.
She has 9.4 million Instagram followers and first became involved in politics during the 2011-2012 Moscow protests against Mr Putin.
Ms Sobchak walks out of a voting booth on the day of the 2018 Russian elections
Ms. Sobchak then reinvented herself as a serious journalist and opposition activist.
His father died of an apparent heart attack in February 2000 – when Mr Putin was acting Russian President.
