Category: US

The US has brought sanctions against the former Olympic gymnast who is long-rumored to be the romantic partner of Russian President Vladimir Putin — adding the person known as “Russia’s most flexible woman” to the growing list of individuals to face financial penalties in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Alina Kabaeva, 39, has been romantically linked to Putin, 69, for more than a decade and is thought to have had at least three children with him. In announcing sanctions against her on Tuesday, the Treasury Department said “Kabaeva has a close relationship to Putin” and that she was being targeted as part of an effort to “impose severe costs for those who support President Vladimir Putin’s war.”

“As innocent people suffer from Russia’s illegal war of aggression, Putin’s allies have enriched themselves and funded opulent lifestyles,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a statement. “The Treasury Department will use every tool at our disposal to make sure that Russian elites and the Kremlin’s enablers are held accountable for their complicity in a war that has cost countless lives.”

While the Kremlin has long denied any relationship between Kabaeva and Putin, rumors of their partnership date back more than a decade. Here’s some of what we know about them.

She was a gymnastics star, but was once banned for doping

Kabaeva is one of the most decorated rhythmic gymnasts in Russian history. She took up the sport at the age of 4 and would eventually go on to win 21 European Championship medals, 14 World Championship medals and two Olympic medals, including a gold at the 2004 Games in Athens. Her signature move, known as the “Kabaeva,” helped her earn the nickname “Russia’s most flexible woman.”

Her career was not without controversy, though. In 2001, she tested positive at the Goodwill Games in Australia for the banned substance furosemide — a diuretic sometimes used by athletes to lose weight or to hide the use of other drugs. She denied doping and said the substance came from a tainted pill she bought at a local pharmacy. However, she was briefly banned from competition and forced to return her medals from the 2001 World Championship in Madrid.

She went into politics, then the media business

Kabaeva retired from professional gymnastics around 2007 and decided to enter politics. She was selected for a seat in the lower house of parliament, where she served as a member of Putin’s United Russia party. In parliament, she was a leading advocate for a law that deprived many Russian orphans of the opportunity to be adopted abroad.

In 2014, she left politics to serve as chairwoman of Russia’s New Media Group, which the US describes as “a pro-Kremlin empire of television, radio, and print organizations.” For months, Kremlin critics have accused the organization of framing Western commentary on the Ukraine invasion as a disinformation campaign. She was appointed to the job despite limited experience in the industry beyond hosting a TV talk show.

Putin and Kabaeva do not discuss the relationship

Kabaeva has denied a relationship with Putin, and Putin has similarly never acknowledged any such partnership. In 2008, the famously private Russian president was asked about Kabaeva during a news conference in Italy with Silvio Berlusconi, then the country’s prime minister-elect.

“I am, of course, aware of the cliché that politicians live in glass houses, but even in these cases, there must be some limits,” Putin said while dismissing the rumours. “I always disliked people who go around with their erotic fantasies, sticking their snot-ridden noses into another person’s life,” he continued.

Berlusconi, standing next to Putin, then mimed shooting the reporter who asked the question with an imaginary machine gun.

The question came just days after The Moskovsky Correspondent, a Russian tabloid owned by a former Soviet intelligence officer, reported that Putin planned to marry Kabaeva. The paper was soon suspended “for financial reasons” and never resumed operation.

The sanctions may not have much effect

Kabaeva is just the latest individual in Putin’s orbit to face sanctions in retaliation for the war in Ukraine. Since the launch of the Russian invasion in February, the US has announced sanctions against a wide range of Russian banks and businesses, Putin associates and even two of his adult daughters.

But at this point in the war, it’s unclear how far sanctions against any one individual will go to deter Putin, says Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Ziemba says there’s little to suggest Kabaeva even has financial assets in the US, and in the aftermath of similar sanctions against her by both the UK and European Union, she has likely “prepared for the risk” of penalty by the US

“The idea is that by targeting people close to Putin himself, that it will make his life and those close to him more difficult, which might lead them to sort of change policy,” Ziemba said. “The ship has probably sailed on that one.”

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — 10 On Your Side has acquired new documents identifying the 2-year-old girl found dead inside a Virginia Beach hotel earlier this week under suspicious circumstances, police said.

The child’s mother, 38-year-old Leandra Andrade, was charged with child abuse neglect, serious injury on Wednesday.

10 On Your Side contacted Matt Andelman, an attorney for Fabio Andrade Jr., the girl’s father, who identified the girl as 2-year-old Lanoix.

Fabio Andrade Jr. provided the statement below regarding Lanoix:

“My daughter Lanoix loved life and loved to make her friends and family smile. I am devastated that the opportunity for Lanoix to continue living a happy and loving life was senselessly taken from her.

I have been fighting tirelessly since March of this year for full physical and legal custody in order to provide my daughter the life she deserved. The court ruling last week awarding me temporary sole legal custody was one of several successful steps toward that goal. But that ruling did not affect the existing, court-ordered temporary shared physical custody schedule that put Lanoix with her mother de ella last weekend.

The family and friends of Lanoix ask for privacy at this time so that we may mourn
our beloved angel.”

FABIO ANDRADE JR.

• 

• 

Lanoix was found dead around 3:30 am Monday in a room at a hotel in the 3600 block of Atlantic Avenue, and police said a woman, later identified as the child’s mother, was also found suffering from a medical emergency and taken to the hospital.

Leandra Andrade was booked into the Virginia Beach Jail Wednesday and had a court hearing that same day, according to the Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office. She is currently being held without bond.

No cause of death for the 2-year-old has been released at this time, however, 10 On Your Side has reached out for more information in the case.

Fabio was recently awarded temporary sole legal custody, but each parent was given equal physical custody of the child. Fabio was aware that Leandra would have their daughter this past weekend.

This is breaking news and will be updated.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and police department heads slammed the state’s bail reform laws as “insane” and “dangerous” amid an increase in arrests and a series of high-profile attacks on law enforcement and the public.

New York Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell joined Adams and other NYPD officials for a press conference Wednesday at NYPD headquarters, where she spoke of “the challenges we are facing in New York City every day.”

They say the definition of insanity is to do the same thing repeatedly, but expect different results.

— New York City Mayor Eric Adams

“This is about recidivists who cause New Yorkers to suffer needlessly. Every day, as hardworking New Yorkers start their day or night of work or school, or to simply enjoy what this city has to offer, recidivist criminals are planning or taking the opportunity to commit their next larceny, robbery, burglary or other crime,” Sewell said, “Their efforts are increasingly aided by the fact that after the NYPD has arrested them, the criminal justice system fails to hold them appropriately accountable for their actions. These offenders face very few, if any, repercussions, despite committing crime after crime.”

The city’s top cop added that the number of crime victims “continues to go up.”

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“Your NYPD officers speak to these victims. We support them and proudly go to work for them with every resource we have,” she continued. “But for too many of these victims, justice is elusive. Justice and fairness go hand in hand. Public service has to work together on behalf of all of the people we serve.”

Sewell noted that New York remains the only state with a law that prevents judges from considering an offender’s potential threat to public safety when making custody decisions.

“That doesn’t serve the next innocent victim,” she said. “It doesn’t serve our officers, and it doesn’t serve quality of life. We can and must do better.”

Mayor Adams stressed that this was not “a battle against those who saw the need to reform a criminal justice system,” but one “against those who are exploiting those reforms.”

Adams said there were “four components of the criminal justice process: police, judges, prosecutors, lawmakers” and they must “operate in unison.”

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He said NYPD arrests have increased by more than 24% as of Aug. 1, with 109,000 arrests this year compared to the 87,794 arrests during the same time in 2021. Arrests for the seven major crimes are up about 29%, he said.

Weapons arrests are at a 27-year high, while the number of murders and shootings is down for the year, he said.

“What’s not working,” the mayor added, “are the other three pieces.”

“They say the definition of insanity is to do the same thing repeatedly, but expect different results,” Adams told reporters. “Our criminal justice system is insane. It is dangerous, it’s harmful, and it’s destroying the fabric of our city. Time and time again, our police officers make an arrest and then the person who is arrested for assault, felonious assault, robberies and gun possession is finding themselves back on the street within days — if not hours — after the arrest. And they go on to commit more crimes within weeks, if not days.”

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He acknowledged that there may be other needed reforms, and said this was not an attack on those, but added: “This is about a small number of people who are taking advantage of the existing laws to endanger our city.”

NYPD’s Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael LiPetri said investigators have identified 716 people who are behind an estimated 30% of the roughly 2,400 shootings since 2021.

“We know who they are,” he said.

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Fifty-four percent of those 716 people — 385 individuals — have an open felony, he said.

“That’s 0.008% of the New York City population responsible for 30 percent of the shootings in New York City over the past year and a half.”

“They are currently cutting down trees in the park with chainsaws,” said Ramon Mendoza, who is part of a movement to preserve the park. A video posted on Twitter at 9:36 am showed the tree work underground.

Listening to the horrible sound of chainsaws in People’s Park. Watching trees drop. Sad day for Berkeley. pic.twitter.com/JJtXKcrEfw

— Jimi Devine (@JimiDevine) August 3, 2022

KRON posted a video at 9:23 am of protesters blocking construction trucks “to stop them from clearing any trees.”

As the day progressed, more protesters descended on the area, pulling down the fence and flooding the park.

UC Berkeley said several arrests were made, but couldn’t provide detailed information about numbers and charges as of 2 pm

The group Defend People’s Park said early this morning that several forklifts, large moving vehicles and trucks with fencing were at the park before sunrise.

“They are throwing residents’ items away,” the group wrote on Twitter.

The university said in a statement that when work began this morning, two or three unhoused people were in the park who had been “previously offered shelter, repeatedly notified that the park was soon to be closed, and informed that overnight camping in the park is not permitted.”

“Last night, alternative shelter, transportation, and storage for belongings was offered again to each and every person when the park was closed, an offer that remains available for all who need and want it,” the university said.

An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled on Friday that UC Berkeley can start construction on a 16-story building that will house more than 1,100 students.

Activists and student groups stood on the sidelines protesting the park’s closure. They have long disputed the university’s project and called for keeping the site that’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places a public green space.

Located in the center of the Bay Area’s high-priced and famously tight real estate market, UC Berkeley faces a student housing shortage; according to a 2017 survey, it “has the lowest percentage of beds for its student body of any campus in the UC System.” The survey also found that 10% of respondents self-identified as having experienced homelessness at some point while attending UC Berkeley.

In addition to student housing, the People’s Park housing complex would provide up to 125 apartments offering supportive housing with onsite services for unhoused and low-income residents, as well as open landscaped areas.

“More than 60% of the 2.8-acre site will be preserved as open space and revitalized into a renewed park space that reinforces the site’s history,” the university said. The site will also feature “a memorialization of the park’s past and historical significance.”

The university’s plans also include providing interim housing to individuals living in People’s Park, with services to support a transition to permanent housing, a website dedicated to the project says.

This is a developing story and details will be added as they emerge.

CHICAGO — A resolution going before the Republican National Committee this week would endorse a bipartisan effort in Congress to prevent future attempts to subvert the will of the voters.

It also presents a dilemma for a party that former President Donald Trump still largely commands.

Sponsored by Bill Palatucci, a New Jersey committee member who believes Trump “disqualified” himself from being president again, the resolution calls for revamping the Electoral Count Act, the 19th century law whose ambiguities helped trigger the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol that disrupted the transfer of power.

The measure doesn’t mention Trump by name or refer to his efforts to dissuade then-Vice President Mike Pence from certifying Joe Biden’s victory. Nor does it discuss the House Jan. 6 committee hearings’ laying out an interlocking effort by the Trump forces to retain power.

Instead, the resolution urges Congress to reform or replace the Electoral Count Act “to prevent a repeat of the tragedy of January 6, 2021,” and safeguard “important American institutions in the minds of most Americans and our allies around the world.”

Even though the resolution is written in a way that doesn’t explicitly fault Trump, RNC members might still balk at the language pointing to a “campaign of misinformation” that Congress could “overturn the election.”

A major theme of the House Jan. 6 committee’s hearings have been that Trump and his outside advisers misled his supporters into believing that widespread fraud robbed him of victory. Recounts and court cases have failed to turn up evidence of fraud on a scale that would have nullified Biden’s win. But Trump still commands enough loyalty within the RNC — chaired by Ronna McDaniel, whom he chose for the job in 2016 — that it may be praised to validate one of the House panel’s core arguments.

The RNC is holding its summer meeting this week in Chicago. Palatucci said he plans to present the resolution at a panel on Thursday. I have previewed the argument he plans to make at the closed-door session.

“I don’t care what you think of Donald Trump. I don’t care what you think of Liz Cheney,” he said, referring to the vice chairwoman of the House Jan. 6 committee. “The peaceful transfer of power is so important to American democracy that we should eliminate the confusion that happened. You can blame whoever you want, but that to me has nothing to do with urging Congress to fix what was obviously a problem last year.”

The Senate Rules Committee held a hearing Wednesday on the Electoral Count Act and changes to election law. A bipartisan group of senators recently introduced bills to overhaul the 1887 law and make it clear that the vice president can’t reject electors. The measures would also raise the threshold for objecting to a state’s electors from one member of the House and the Senate to one-fifth of each chamber.

The aim is to close loopholes in election law and prevent future attempts to overturn an election. The negotiations, led by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Manchin, DW.Va., were backed by Senate leaders of both parties. It’s unclear when the Senate will vote on the bills.

Collins told the Rules Committee that the “process for counting electoral votes has been abused” and that it “took the violent breach of the Capitol on January 6 to really shine a spotlight on how urgent the need for reform was.”

She said the Senate group that crafted the proposals — which includes Republicans like Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Mitt Romney of Utah and Ben Sasse of Nebraska — is “united in our determination to prevent the flaws in this 1887 law from being used to undermine future presidential election.”

“Nothing is more essential to the survival of a democracy than the orderly transfer of power,” she said. “And there is nothing more essential to the orderly transfer of power than clear rules for affecting it.”

House Democratic leaders have also signaled interest in overhauling the Electoral Count Act, but they say they want to wait to see the Jan. 6 committee’s legislative recommendations — expected later this year — before they endorse any legislation.

Palatucci’s resolution tracks the work of the bipartisan group of senators. He, too, wants to clarify the role of vice presidents so there would be no confusion about their limited powers when Congress tallies the electoral votes every four years.

“We’ve got to do everything to avoid the repeat of Jan. 6, 2021,” Palatucci said. “And a big part of that is removing the confusion that lots of people simply had about the role of Congress and the electors and the vice president.”