Countess ex-lover of man dubbed ‘Putin’s banker’ claims he attacked her during years of ‘horrific’ abuse – then ‘sedated and handcuffed’ her when she tried to go to police: ‘He went absolutely mental’

The former partner of a Russian oligarch dubbed “Putin’s banker” claims he attacked her and then “stunned and handcuffed” her when she tried to tell police.

Countess Alexandra Tolstoy, 50, said billionaire Sergei Pugachev subjected her to “horrific” physical and emotional abuse for years before being forced into exile in 2015.

In an emotional interview, the Anglo-Russian aristocrat accused him of repeatedly beating her, drugging her, isolating her from her friends and even trying to kidnap their children.

Countess Tolstoy, a travel writer who also runs a horse riding holiday company, met Pugachev in 2008.

They had three children, but Ms Tolstoy says her ex-partner has refused to pay a cent for the past five years to support their sons, Alexei and Ivan, and daughter Maria.

Pugachev was nicknamed ‘Putin’s banker’ due to his close ties to the Russian president in the early 2000s (Putin and Pugachev pictured in 2000)

Countess Tolstoy in London in 2016. She claims Pugachev would ‘go absolutely crazy, shout at me, just the most disgusting abuse’

Sergei Pugachev pictured in Paris in 2015 after fleeing to France amid accusations about the legitimacy of his business ventures

Countess Alexandra Tolstoy pictured at her Oxfordshire home in 2021. She claims Pugachev had her family followed while she was in exile in France

She also claims that 61-year-old Pugachev – who was nicknamed ‘Putin’s banker’ in the early 2000s due to his close ties to the Russian president – has had her family followed even though he now lives in France after his British assets were frozen.

Speaking about the daily abuse she says she faced, the Dorset-born adventurer and broadcaster told the Difficult Women podcast: ‘He went completely mad. Yelling at me, just the most disgusting abuse…

‘There was a lot of testing: how far can I go, what can I do? And once I got pregnant, he knew there was really no going back.”

She added: ‘I think the worst episode ever was: we were in Moscow, and I went out to dinner with a friend and when I came back… he flew out of his room, ripped off my dress and physically attacked me .’

She said she was “terrified” and ran to a police station: “I said, ‘Look, I’ve just been attacked,’ and she [said they] knew exactly who Sergei was and they weren’t going to help me.’

Ms Tolstoy, who is distantly related to War and Peace author Leo Tolstoy, says Pugachev had her sedated after the incident.

“He then had a psychiatrist come and inject me with a sedative and handcuff me because he said I was angry… When I came to, I had bruises.”

She said that shortly afterwards a similar incident took place in London, in which Pugachev punched her in the face.

The countess called the police, but said that they asked her in Pugachev’s presence if she wanted to file a complaint. She was “so scared” that she told her that wasn’t the case.

She has not seen Pugachev since he fled to France following accusations about the legitimacy of his business ventures.

Ms Tolstoy told the podcast: ‘(It wasn’t) just verbal abuse, but the abuse of complete gaslighting, taking control of my life, excluding my friends. He tried to kidnap the children…all sorts of horrible things.”

Pugachev helped finance Putin when he came to power.

He controlled an empire of shipyards, a coal mine and luxury brands, but fell from grace when he was accused by the Kremlin of enriching himself through the Mezhprombank, which he co-founded, before it collapsed in 2010.