- The former Russian ice dancer and Olympic gold medalist Tatiana Navka has been sanctioned by the US.
- Navka, who won gold at Turin 2006, is the wife of Vladimir Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov.
A former Russian figure skater who once dressed as holocaust victim for a routine has been sanctioned by United States over her links to the Kremlin.
Tatiana Navka, who won ice dancing gold at the 2006 Turin
Peskov was targeted by the US on March 3 and sanctions have now been issued to Navka and Peskov's two adult children, Nikolay Peskov and Elizaveta Dmitriyevna Peskova.
The US Departure of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Controls (OFAC) said Friday: "Today, OFAC is designating three of Peskov's family members, all of whom live luxurious lifestyles that are incongruous with Peskov's civil servant salary and are likely built on the ill-gotten wealth of Peskov's connections to Putin.
"Peskov's wife, Tatiana Aleksandrovna Navka has a property empire worth more than $10 million. Her real estate includes property in an elite Moscow suburb where Putin also lives, another multimillion-dollar apartment in Moscow given to her by the GoR [government of
Navka and Pesvok's children were all designated pursuant to Executive Order 14024, which prohibits them from engaging in any transaction or transferring assets with anyone in the US.
"Treasury continues to hold Russian officials to account for enabling Putin's unjustified and unprovoked war," said Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen.
"Today's actions also further isolates the severely damaged Russian economy by prohibiting trade in products that are key to the economic and financial interests of all Russian elites."
Navka sparked outrage in 2016 when she performed a routine on Russian state television while dressed as a concentration camp prisoner.
Performing on a celebrity skating show, her and actor Andrei Burkovsky wore striped uniforms featuring the yellow Star of David badges, seemingly imitating the uniforms worn by Jewish people in concentration camps during the Holocaust.
Navka said the routine was based on the Oscar-winning film "Life Is Beautiful."
The film focuses on a Jewish family in a concentration camp, with the father of the family pretending to his son that their imprisonment is just a game to distract him from the reality of the situation.
"Definitely watch this! One of my favourite numbers!" Navka wrote on Instagram alongside photographs from the performance.
"Our children should know and remember that terrible time."