Russian children’s rights ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova married U.S.-sanctioned media tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev, Russian media reported Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The couple wed on Sunday at a restaurant in the elite Moscow region village of Deauville, according to the Telegram news channel Baza, which has ties to Russia’s security services. The independent news website Vyorstka confirmed the wedding with three anonymous sources close to the couple.
“The couple welcomed the leak about their marriage since they didn’t want a secret wedding,” one source was quoted as saying by Vyortska, while another noted that a “small circle of people” was asked not to post photos of the newlyweds.
Both Baza and Vyorstka published images and videos of what was said to be the wedding venue and guests.
Vyorstka previously reported that Lvova-Belova had left her husband, a Russian Orthodox priest with whom she raised 10 biological and adopted children, for Malofeyev. Rumors of their relationship surfaced when the pair were seen together at a religious event in Yekaterinburg this summer.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Lvova-Belova and President Vladimir Putin in March 2023, accusing them of war crimes related to the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. Russia, which is not a member of the ICC, has rejected the warrant as “void.”
The U.S. Treasury first sanctioned Malofeyev in 2014 for funding pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine. In 2022, Washington expanded sanctions against Malofeyev’s “malign influence network,” which includes over 40 individuals and entities like the pro-Kremlin Orthodox television channel Tsargrad.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Monday declined to comment on the reported wedding, saying that it was not his place to discuss Lvova-Belova’s private life.
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