Countess Alexandra Tolstoy, whose ex-partner was from Putin’s inner circle, called for an end to the “politicization of the Russian people or culture” amid the war in Ukraine.
The aristocratic beauty, who comes from a long line of Russian nobility, shares the children of Aliosha, Ivan and Maria with billionaire financier Sergei Pugachev, who was known as “Putin’s banker” before insulting the Kremlin and fleeing the country. Now Putin considers him a “traitor.”
Posting on Instagram, Alexandra, who lives in the United Kingdom, called for greater understanding and support from the Russian people, saying many were opposed to Putin’s actions and protested the war “at great personal risk”.
She also issued a call for fundraising for a Russian orphanage and condemned Putin’s actions in Ukraine. The publications led to her being “trolled by Russian bots” and losing more than 1,800 followers overnight.
Countess Alexandra Tolstoy, pictured whose ex-partner was a member of Putin’s inner circle, urged people not to “politicize the Russian people or culture” amid the war in Ukraine
Posting on Instagram, Alexandra called for greater understanding and support for the Russian people, saying many were opposed to Putin’s actions and protested the war.
The aristocratic beauty, who comes from a long line of Russian nobility, shares the children of Aliosha, Ivan and Maria with billionaire financier Sergei Pugachev, who was known as Putin’s “banker” before insulting the Kremlin and fleeing the country.
She wrote: “Despite the trolling from paid Russian bots I have received in recent days, I am extremely proud to be partly Russian and a member of one of her most creative families.
“Please do not politicize Russian culture, heritage and its wonderful people, many of whom are boldly opposed to the war at great personal risk.”
Alexandra also promoted a talk this week by her father, Nikolai Tolstoy, a historian and author of books, including The Victims of Yalta and Ministers and Massacres, that will deal with the war in Ukraine.
She continued: ‘[He will discuss the] the divisive policy of the Soviet regime, and in particular the misinterpretation and propaganda of the current regime of facts, the direct continuation of Soviet policy, and the slanderous “fascist” and “Nazi” accusations that are constantly leveled against the Ukrainians. “
Encouraging the conversation, which will raise money for a Russian orphanage, she added: “Please remember how many Russians do not want this war and are boldly protesting and talking.”
Sergei said he enjoyed a “very close” friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin before arguing, with the politician calling Sergei a “traitor” for meeting an “Englishwoman”
Alexandra’s title comes from her great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather of her father, Pavel Tolstoy-Miloslavsky, who was titled Count for his services as a chamberlain to the last Emperor Nicholas II of Russia immediately after the First World War.
Pugachev was once called a “Kremlin banker” and was close to him Vladimir Putin before falling into disfavor. Now the Russian president sees him as a “traitor.”
After arriving in the UK in 2011, he was accused of draining a fortune from his financial house Mezhprombank. Moscow’s state creditors have prosecuted him in British courts, claiming he has embezzled hundreds of millions.
Who is Alexandra Tolstoy?
Before meeting Sergei, Alexandra was married to a penniless Cossack named Shamil Galimzyanov. The two met while traveling on the Silk Road on horseback in 1999.
Tolstoy first met with Sergei, then a Russian senator and Putin’s trusted friend, who broke up with his wife when asked to teach him English while she lived in Moscow with Galimzyanov.
A year later, they met again at an awards ceremony attended by the Russian president. Months later, Tolstoy was pregnant with Sergei’s child. They had three children together – Alexei, known as Alyosha, Ivan and Maria.
Alexandra is the eldest of four children of the Anglo-Russian historian and writer Nikolai Tolstoy. She grew up in Oxfordshire before going to the University of Edinburgh to study philosophy. She spent her year in Russia.
The oligarch fled to France, where he remains, and was sentenced to two years in absentia by a Supreme Court judge in 2016 for violating court orders involving hundreds of millions in alleged stolen money.
Pugachev cut off Alexandra and their children financially, she said, and the family was evicted from Pugachev’s £ 12 million family estate in south London during the pandemic, after reportedly receiving only 12 days’ notice. the Russian government, which returned the property.
Of course, Alexandra has since moved to another home in London, but she also has an idyllic country house, which she bought in 2004.
Pugachev once owned two large shipyards, the world’s largest mine and large pieces of real estate in Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as Mezhprombank, which he co-founded in the 1990s.
The couple met in 2008 after Sergei hired Alexandra to help him improve his English while they both lived in Russia, where Sergei was once a close friend of Putin.
Speaking about their relationship in a documentary, Alexandra said: “When I met Sergei, it was electric. It was amazing. I fell in love with him so much. I have never felt such a connection with anyone.
Within a year of their meeting, a baby was born and another on the way, living a luxurious life in London, Moscow and Paris.
Alexandra said: “It was amazing, he gave me his credit card and I would go shopping, I had a private jet. I just had to pack my suitcase and I could go.
The family moved between many properties, including a £ 12 million family home in Battersea, a 200-acre farmhouse in Hertfordshire and a £ 40 million seaside villa in St Barts.
But in 2008, Sergei’s bank ran into trouble and a Russian bank saved it with a $ 1 billion loan.
Sergei, who left Russia in 2011, claims that after relations between him and Putin cooled, the Kremlin has tried to take over or destroy his business empire.
Alexandra also issued a call for fundraising for a Russian orphanage and condemned Putin’s actions in Ukraine. The publications led to her being “trolled by Russian bots” and losing more than 1,800 followers overnight.
The Russians then accused him of earning huge sums of money from taxpayers given to Mezhprombank by Russia’s central bank in the midst of the 2008 economic crisis.
Russian authorities froze his assets, put him on the Interpol wanted list and received a court order in Britain forcing him to surrender his passports.
Until 2015, he split his time between France and the family home in London and claimed to be number 3 on the Kremlin’s hit list.
Moscow’s state creditors have prosecuted him in British courts, claiming he has embezzled hundreds of millions.
Pugachev fled to France ahead of a 2016 Supreme Court ruling in a lawsuit filed by the Russian Deposit Guarantee Agency, in which he was convicted of 12 breaches of court orders related to a security order imposed on him for trying to recover money. .
The Supreme Court’s February 2016 ruling did not rule on the allegations of embezzlement, and Pugachev told the court he had “not stolen money”. In her assessment of his imprisonment, Judge Rose noted that he “has a real fear that his life is in danger from agents of the Russian state.”
Mr Jessica Faure, Mr Pugachev’s lawyer, said there was no court ruling finding financial irregularities on his part.
By order of the Supreme Court, the family home was put on the market and Alexandra struck a deal with the Russian government to deny her claim to his wealth.