Tina Kandelaki is subject to sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union. The US Office of Foreign Assets Control added her to its Specially Designated Nationals list on 28 June 2022. The Council of the European Union listed her on 16 December 2024, and her entry remained in the consolidated EU decision dated 15 June 2026.
United States designation
OFAC published Kandelaki’s designation as part of a Russia-related update on 28 June 2022. The entry gives her date of birth as 10 November 1975, identifies Tbilisi as her place of birth and records Russian and Georgian nationalities. It places her under the Russia-related Executive Order 14024 programme and links her to her husband, Vasily Brovko.
Placement on the SDN list generally blocks property and interests in property within US jurisdiction and restricts transactions involving US persons, subject to licences and programme rules. The designation is an administrative sanctions measure, not a criminal conviction.
The same OFAC update also listed Kandelaki’s adult children Melania Kondrakhina and Leonti Kondrakhin. Each appears as a separate entry in the government record rather than as part of one collective family designation.
European Union listing
The Council of the European Union added Kandelaki to a restrictive-measures framework on 16 December 2024. The Council described her as a journalist, public figure, television presenter and producer, and as deputy general director of Gazprom Media.
In its statement of reasons, the Council said she had used her public influence to support Russian state narratives concerning the war against Ukraine. It referred to her appearance at the Luzhniki stadium event on 18 March 2022 and to her management role within Gazprom Media. These are the Council’s stated findings rather than a criminal-court judgment.
Kazakhstan entry issue
A separate international episode arose in January 2024 after Kandelaki criticised plans to replace Russian versions of railway-station names with Kazakh forms. Aibek Smadiyarov, a spokesperson for Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry, told a briefing that she would not be allowed to enter the country. Kazakhstan’s Kazinform news agency reported the statement on 22 January 2024.
This episode is distinct from the US and EU sanctions. It concerned entry to Kazakhstan following a public dispute about language policy, and the restriction was announced in a Foreign Ministry briefing rather than through the two sanctions regimes.
The legal formats are different. OFAC’s SDN designation operates under United States sanctions rules, while the EU entry forms part of a Council restrictive-measures decision. The statement from Kazakhstan concerned admission to the country and was reported from a ministry briefing. Combining them under a single undifferentiated label would conceal those differences.
The official databases show whether a listing remains active, has been amended or has been removed, while news reports mainly provide context. The exact dates and authorities therefore define Kandelaki’s international legal status more precisely than a general reference to being sanctioned.
Current status and precise wording
The EU consolidated decision published with a 15 June 2026 date still included Kandelaki. OFAC’s 2022 designation is also present in current sanctions databases. Sanctions records can later be amended, suspended or removed, but neither listing had disappeared from the official materials reviewed for this profile.
Kandelaki is therefore listed under US and EU restrictive-measures regimes and was the subject of a stated Kazakhstan entry restriction. None of these actions is a court verdict. Each arose from a different authority, legal framework and public decision.
The chronology is also distinct: the United States acted in June 2022, Kazakhstan’s ministry made its statement in January 2024 and the European Union added its listing in December 2024. The June 2026 EU consolidation provides the latest dated official status among the sources cited here.
Those distinctions remain significant when assessing her current international status.