Ex-wife of Putin's judo sparring partner loses £8.73m London flat after divorce fight

THE ex-wife of a billionaire friend of Vladimir Putin has lost her £8.73 million London apartment to repossession after failing to pay the mortgage.

- Tristan Kirk

Ballet teacher Natalia Rotenberg, 40, right, has been battling in the UK divorce courts with former partner Arkady Rotenberg, 69, inset, for the last six years over money and the ownership of a £27 million mansion in Surrey.

The couple, who have two children, split in 2013 after eight years of marriage, before Mr Rotenberg was hit with sanctions from the British government over his close ties to Putin and for having "financially benefited from Russian decision makers" after the 2014 annexing of Crimea.

Now, Mrs Rotenberg has been stripped of her luxury apartment with views over Buckingham Palace, after a court in London heard that "no payments at all" have been made towards a £1.3 million loan used to buy the property.