Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže announced on the social media platform X that she has added Russian journalist and TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak and her husband, theatre director Konstantin Bogomolov, to Latvia’s list of persons undesirable for the country, imposing an indefinite entry ban.
The decision was taken in accordance with Part 3 of Article 104 of Latvia’s Immigration Law, which stipulates that “if a foreigner is an undesirable person for Latvia, the decision on their inclusion in the list is made by the Foreign Minister” . Braže did not disclose the specific reasons behind the move.
Bogomolov, a Russian theatre and film director, has previously staged productions at the Liepāja Theatre in Latvia . The couple married in September 2019.
Who Is Ksenia Sobchak?
Ksenia Anatolyevna Sobchak was born on 5 November 1981 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) . She is the daughter of Anatoly Sobchak, the first mayor of St. Petersburg (1991–1996), and Lyudmila Narusova, a historian and current senator in the Russian Federation Council.
Her father holds particular significance in Russian political history: Vladimir Putin began his political career working in Anatoly Sobchak’s office in St. Petersburg in the 1990s, and Putin has maintained a long-standing relationship with the Sobchak family.
Sobchak first rose to widespread fame as the host of the reality show “Dom-2” from 2004 to 2012 . She later hosted “Blondinka v Shokolade” and, more recently, the YouTube channel “Ostorozhno, Sobchak” (Caution, Sobchak).
Political Career: The 2018 Presidential Run
In 2017, Sobchak announced her candidacy in the 2018 Russian presidential election . She ran as a candidate nominated by the Civil Initiative party (Гражданская инициатива). In the final result, she placed fourth, securing approximately 1.68% of the vote.
Her political role has been a subject of debate. While she was initially presented by some as an opposition figure to Vladimir Putin, the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny regarded her more as a political manoeuvre by the Kremlin designed to siphon votes away from genuine opposition candidates.
Personal Life
Sobchak was previously married to actor Maxim Vitorgan from 2013 to 2019; their son Platon was born in 2016 . She has been married to Konstantin Bogomolov since September 2019.
Latvia’s Broader List
Latvia’s foreign ministers have regularly added figures from the entertainment industry to the country’s undesirable persons list during the war in Ukraine, targeting those who have demonstrated support for the policies of aggressor states. Earlier, on 17 September, Braže added hockey player Alexander Ovechkin and International Boxing Association (IBA) president Umar Kremlev to the list.
