She has reportedly been hiding out with her children
More than 63,000 people have signed a petition calling for Vladimir Putin's rumoured lover to be deported from Switzerland.
Alina Kabaeva, a former Olympic champion gymnast, is
rumoured to be hiding out in a Swiss chalet with her four children.
A petition has since been set up by Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian nationals to have her expelled from the country.
Posted on Change.org, it is written in English, French and German, and has gathered just over 63,500 signatures at the time of writing.
She has been nicknamed 'Eva Braun,' after Adolf Hitler's lover.
It reads: "Despite the current war, Switzerland continues to host an accomplice of Putin's regime. It’s time Switzerland take action and reunite Alina 'Eva Braun' Kabaeva with her 'Fuhrer'.
"We, the citizens of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, which is currently undergoing immense suffering, are uniting to appeal to the Swiss authorities."
The petition goes on to ask why Switzerland is "continuing to host her [Kabaeva] and her family, whilst Putin is destroying the lives of millions," given the amount of sanctions being placed on Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.
Despite historically being a neutral country, Switzerland has joined other nations in imposing sanctions on Russia, yet Kabaeva remains in the country.
https://twitter.com/InnaSovsun/status/1506356881052344327
After announcing they would be imposing sanctions on Russia, Switzerland's ambassador in the US said that it was "still neutral," the
Independent reports.
Jacques Pitteloud said: "We’re still neutral. At the same time, we’re putting additional emphasis on something else that is very important to small countries like Switzerland – the respect of international law.
"International law may not be that important for big countries, but for small countries, it is a matter of survival.”
Putin has always denied having an affair with Kabaeva, having refused to speak about any aspect of his private life in the past.
They are rumoured to have been in a relationship since 2008, having four children together.
The former gymnast entered politics following her retirement from the sport. She occupied a number of senior Kremlin roles, most notably being appointed by the Kremlin in 2014 to run the state-owned National Media Group, with a reported salary of $10m a year.
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