The Asset That Saved Putin’s Goddaughter

You really never know what’s going to happen in life. 

One day, you’re the (rumored) goddaughter to one of the most powerful men in the world, and the next you’re sneaking across borders and hoping no one recognizes you. 

Which is the story of Ksenia Sobchak, a high-profile Russian media star. 

Last week, she left her home in Moscow and headed to Belarus…where she bought airline tickets to Dubai and Turkey from Minsk as a way to fool security personnel, who clearly fell for the ruse…while she walked across the Belorussian border into neighboring Lithuania. 

Using an Israeli passport. 

And that’s really our story here—the use of a non-native passport to gain your freedom. 

Honestly, I have no idea who Ksenia Sobchak is. I imagine you don’t either. No shame in that. Not like we spend much time (or any) watching Russian media shows. 

She is, however, a big wig in Russia. Easily picked out of a crowd since she was once known as “the Paris Hilton of Russia.” In fact, the only reason we know she’s in Lithuania is because someone recognized her and there’s purported footage of her at the borders. And, well, there are her supposed ties to god-daddy Vladimir Putin, who once served as deputy mayor of St. Petersburg when Sobchak’s real daddy, Anatoly, was mayor.  

Clearly, Ksenia’s relationship with Vlad has soured. And she wanted out. 

I have been writing a great deal recently about second passports, and I’ve done so for one reason: I am trying to raise awareness of this issue—the issue being the need to be prepared for unexpected events. 

I would venture to guess that not many Russians, say, 10 years ago were thinking about second passports. The Russian economy was accelerating. Russia had a favorable, high-profile presence on the world stage. Being in business in Russia meant you were basically printing money, though you certainly faced some governmental challenges/corruption. 

But today…well, as I’ve written about my own wife’s issues in navigating her Russian/Ukrainian heritage, being Russian means you’re pretty much a pariah. Persona non grata. And when Russian authorities start snooping around your life, as they did with Ksenia, you really need to be prepared to get the hell outta dodge. 

Which is where Ksenia’s Israeli passport saved the day. 

A Russian walking across a border from Belarus into Lithuania (an EU country) on a Russian passport at this exact moment in time would have raised many alarm bells. Very likely she would have been detained and questioned by the Belarussians…who would, no doubt, have called their friendly Russian agents to come have a chat as well. 

And Ksenia would likely have been denied an exit stamp in her passport and would have probably been shuttled, post haste, right back to Moscow for further questioning, house arrest…or worse. 

Instead, she presented as an Israeli, a nationality not likely to cause much of an eye-raise. 

That’s the great benefit of a second passport: it’s a second identity that can pave the way to personal and economic freedoms that your native passport doesn’t grant. 

America has a great passport. I am certainly not knocking that. It’s one of the top seven in the world. 

Nevertheless, it still defines you as an American, and that can be a roadblock in certain circumstances. And in those circumstances, when presenting as anything other than American is your path to safety or opportunity, that second passport is more valuable than any currency on the planet. 

Moments like that come down to preparation.  

Ksenia prepared. I have to imagine she has long known that she’s high-profile. She’s been critical of the government in the past. And she has long known, I imagine, that high-profile people in Russia who are critical of the government often find themselves in sticky situations. And, so, she prepared for that possibility by obtaining an Israeli passport early on, before anyone would have cared, so that in this exact moment she had an escape plan. 

I’ve said it before and I will keep saying it, safe and secure as America generally is, that safety and security is not set in stone. Life changes. We’ve all seen it change in the last 20 or so years. Freedoms we once had have been usurped by government. 

Political rancor is as bad as it has been since the 1860s. Politicians are increasingly totalitarian in their pronouncements. 

What’s normal today might tomorrow be a fond relic of a happier life. 

All I’m saying is prepare. 

Think about what event would make you wish you had a second passport and a place to get away. Then, use that as motivation for pursuing that second passport.  

You might never need a second passport. Then again, you might one day be the next Ksenia Sobchak looking to escape an untenable situation.