Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)
KEY POINTS
- Abrosimova allegedly gave birth to her two daughters with Solovyov in the U.S. at the end of 2016
- Abrosimova also owns an elite villa in Sochi located near relatives of other prominent Russian figures
- Solovyov’s affair was exposed in an investigation carried out by Alexei Navalny’s team
Vladimir Solovyov, one of the most well-known propagandists in Russia, allegedly has a secret family with a former WNBA player with whom he had children, a recent in-depth report revealed.
Solovyov had allegedly been in a relationship with former Russian basketball player Svetlana Abrosimova with whom he has two children, Margarita and Maria. Both children were reportedly born in the United States at the end of 2016 and currently hold U.S. citizenships. Abrosimova, who supports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, also holds U.S. citizenship.
Solovyov’s affair with Abrosimova was discovered during an investigation by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s team. A video of the report was posted on Navalny’s YouTube channel.
In addition to their affair, Navalny’s team also discovered that Abrosimova owns an elite villa in Sochi that is worth at least 500 million rubles ($6.21 million). That villa is located next to the homes of the wife of Gen. Sergei Surovikin, son of Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrishev and former FSB agent Sergei Shishkin.
The investigation noted that information on Abrosimova’s villa had been deleted from the Russian State Registry. According to listings viewed by Navalny’s team, her apartment is now owned by the Russian Federation. This led his team to speculate that Abrosimova may be holding a position in the Kremlin.
“Maybe Svetlana [Abrosimova] is not only a former basketball player, but also a top-secret FSB or GRU officer with the rank of general? Maybe she is an employee of the Ministry of Defense and in between hosting her YouTube channel she secretly commands a division in the Donbas?” Navalny’s team said in the video, as translated by investigative news website The Insider.
“Why is it that Svetlana Abrosimova, who just finished her career a long time ago, is so protected by the state? Why has the Russian state literally equated her with the families of [former FSB director Nikolai] Patrushev and [Sergei] Surovikin?”
It is unclear when Abrosimova and Solovyov met. Abrosimova previously played for the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, Connecticut Sun and Seattle Storm. She also won a bronze medal for the Russian national team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
On the other hand, Solovyov is a Russian propagandist known for hosting the state TV show “Evening with Vladimir Solovyov.” He has been vocal about his support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at one point suggesting that Moscow should wipe Kharkiv and Kyiv “off the face of the Earth.”
