Protest in Paris outside of home of reported wife of Russian Deputy Defense Minister

Several dozen people held a protest in Paris, demanding that France sanction Svetlana Maniovich, whom Alexey Navalny’s team have outed as the wife of Russia’s deputy defense minister, Timur Ivanov. The journalist Denis Kataev posted photos and videos from the action.

The protest took place on Roux de Babylone, outside of a building where, according to Navalny’s associates, Svetlana Maniovich rents an apartment. Protesters held signs in French, English, and Russian and chanted “Sanctions!”

Maria Pevchikh, chair of the Anti-Coruption Foundation’s board of directors, addressed the protesters. Previously, she called on ACF supporters in Paris to hold a protest demanding that Maniovich’s family be sanctioned, their assets frozen, and they themselves be be banned from the E.U.

In December 2022, Navalny’s team released an investigation into Svetlana Maniovich. That investigation revealed that Maniovich was not subject to the E.U. sanctions that affected Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, because the couple legally divorced within five months of the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The investigation’s authors emphasize that they found no evidence that the pair actually broke up.