Putin's Goddaughter Demands Ukraine War End

Vladimir Putin's 'goddaughter', Ksenia Sobchak, a prominent Russian TV presenter and socialite, has courageously called for an end to the devastating Ukraine war, marking its fourth anniversary with a plea for peace.

Vladimir Putin’s ‘goddaughter’ has issued a demand for an end to his horrific war in Ukraine. TV presenter, media owner, influencer and socialite Ksenia Sobchak, 44, pleaded for an end to the bloodshed in a post this week. Her late father, former St Petersburg mayor Anatoly Sobchak, was Putin’s political mentor, and the dictator attended her Orthodox Church baptism.

A Plea for Peace

In a post marking the fourth anniversary of the war, the former Playboy model lambasted the conflict started by Putin, stating it ‘must end’. ‘For four years, my country has been living in war,’ she said, adding that the worst of the horrors were hidden from wealthier people living in Moscow, St Petersburg and other major cities.

‘This is not visible in the capitals. It is not visible in the cities. But it’s already woven into countless thousands, and thousands, and thousands of human destinies – and if we mark on a map every mother who lost a son or daughter, every wife who lost a husband, every family that lost a person killed at the front – the whole country will be burning with red dots of grief and pain.’

She warned: ‘Russians are dying, Ukrainians are dying—sometimes quickly, sometimes in pain and agonisingly slowly. Cities on both sides are freezing without heat and light. All of this must end. Both countries will be dealing with the consequences for a very long time, many, many years. Today, I wish us all that this day will come sooner.’

A History of Dissent

Sobchak stood as a ‘liberal’ rival to Putin in the 2018 presidential election, but she is usually loyal to her godfather. Her recent statement comes as Russian media confirmed the names of 200,000 Russians who died in the war, with other sources indicating the full death toll to be around 320,000.

Shortly after the war broke out in 2022, Ksenia used her Israeli passport to enter Lithuania from Belarus. It is believed she was running away from persecution as Moscow state investigators looked into whether she said the invasion into Ukraine was ‘funded from abroad’.

Many suspect Putin actually allowed Ksenia to leave – rather than see the woman dubbed his ‘goddaughter’ held in detention like his other political foes. But the socialite-turned-politician, who was once called the ‘Paris Hilton of Moscow’, grew up to become a critic of the Kremlin.