White House press secretary Jen Psaki denied at Monday’s daily press briefing the US was deliberately holding off on sanctioning the woman believed to be Putin’s girlfriend.
“We’re continuing to review sanctions,” Psaki said when asked why Russian politician and ex-gymnast Alina Kabaeva had not yet been targeted.
“No-one is safe from our sanctions,” Psaki continued.
“We’ve already of course sanctioned President Putin, but also his daughter and his closest cronies, and we will continue to review more,” she added.
There have been calls for the US to sanction the 38-year old Olympic gold medalist, as the US has done to Putin’s two adult daughters.
Putin is known for being intensely private about his personal life, and has never acknowledged any romantic relationship with Russia’s “secret first lady”, as she has been dubbed in the Russian and foreign press.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, US officials have withheld sanctions on Kabaeva due to concerns that Putin would view it as a personal attack.
It would be viewed as “so personal a blow to Mr Putin that it could further escalate tensions between Russia and the US”, the Journal wrote.