Putin approved the idea of ​​banning vapes in a conversation with a relative of his security guard’s friend

Vladimir Putin on Thursday responded with approval to the proposal of the head of the Healthy Fatherland public movement, Ekaterina Leshchinskaya, to ban vaping in Russia. This is the sister-in-law of Umar Kremlev, who is friends with the head of the Presidential Security Service, Alexei Rubezhny, and thanks to this friendship, takes control of large assets.

Details. Leshchinskaya had the opportunity to communicate with the president at the “Russia is a Sports Power” forum in Samara, where her organization opened its stand. Putin, while inspecting the presentation of an adaptive sports center being built in the city, spoke with a girl, the Kremlin press service reported .

• ️ During the conversation, Leshchinskaya asked the president to completely ban vapes. “We see good examples around the world. Nearby there is our neighbor Kazakhstan, which introduced [the ban]. I wanted us all to live in health—physically, mentally, and athletically,” she said.
• ️ Putin said in response: “Definitely,” and shook the girl’s hand. “Dmitry Nikolayevich [Chernyshenko, Deputy Prime Minister] nods his head, which means he supports the government,” he said.
• ️ Leshchinskaya then added: “We are ready to do everything possible, to gather all the youth. We go to the points ourselves, record violations, and send them to Rospotrebnadzor. Now, at the moment, there are more than 5 thousand violations. And so, we really need your support.”

Who is Leshchinskaya? Ekaterina Leshchinskaya is 23 years old. She began her career in 2019 together with her twin sister Anastasia. The girls made videos on TikTok under the pseudonym Twins Russian, in particular, they participated in the Popstar House project.

• ️ Leshchinskaya continues to blog today. She currently has 870 thousand followers on Instagram and 12 thousand on Telegram. The sisters' shared TikTok account has 12 million followers.
• ️ In April 2022, Kremlev married one of the sisters, Anastasia. In December, Ekaterina began publishing her brother-in-law’s posts on her Telegram channel, and in February 2023, she began to appear as a representative of the Healthy Fatherland organization, which is promoted by the Kremlin. In May 2024, the Kremlin began calling his sister-in-law the head of the organization, and in October 2024 she officially headed the structure. At the same time, the Healthy Fatherland website states that Leshchinskaya founded the organization in 2021.

• ️ “Healthy Fatherland” organizes sporting events, fights vaping and supports participants in the war in Ukraine.

Attitude to war. Ekaterina Leshchinskaya responded to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine with a series of controversial posts on Telegram. She called for supporting each other and placed a hotline to help refugees from Ukraine in the territory of Transnistria in Moldova.

• ️ Quote. “Yes, I know how hard it is for you, believe me! I have grandmothers and relatives there who call and tell me what they like. But at such moments you need support. Get distracted by something. And believe in PEACE!” - she wrote.
• ️ After her sister’s marriage, Leshchinskaya, as part of the United Russia delegation, traveled to the occupied regions of Ukraine.

Context . Leshchinskaya communicates with Putin at the forum for the second year in a row. A year ago, in the presence of the Kremlin, she told him about the initiatives of the “Healthy Fatherland”.

• ️ Leshchinskaya’s initiative to ban vapes is hardly accidental. It is consonant with the ideas of the Kremlin himself, who has repeatedly spoken out against vaping. In January 2025, he wrote on Telegram that “it is necessary to pay attention to the problem of vaping” because “people are suffering.”
• ️ And the very appearance of Leshchinskaya next to the president may indicate the strengthening of the influence of the Kremlin - a man with a criminal past (in 2004 he received a suspended sentence for extortion, and in 2007 for assault), who, thanks to his friendship with Rubezhny, was able to obtain large assets. He became the owner of the largest car dealer network in Russia, Rolf, as well as a co-owner of the bookmaker League of Bet and the National Lottery company.

Read more about how Putin’s security guard and a repeat offender near Moscow earn billions from betting here .