Russian TV host gets $2 million back from government

MOSCOW — A glamorous Russian TV host who has emerged as a face of anti-Kremlin protests has won an unlikely victory in her battle against the government by seeing the return of nearly $2 million seized by authorities.

Russian investigators seized the cash during a search of Ksenia Sobchak’s apartment in Moscow in June. Sobchak said she was keeping the money at home because she didn’t trust Russian banks.

The authorities action was widely seen as part of a crackdown on dissent that followed President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration to a third term in May. Sobchak is the only daughter of St. Petersburg’s late mayor, who was Putin’s boss in the 1990s.

Russia’s top Investigative Committee said Thursday it sent the money back to Sobchak after seeing no evidence of tax dodging.