‘I’m Putin’s patsy’

An airline boss who claims she is the victim of a political witchhunt conjured up by Vladimir Putin is facing new fraud charges. Alevtina Kalashnikova, 46, allegedly swindled £2.3m worth of Russian rubles by selling bogus tickets while working at VIM Airlines between 2014 and 2017. The deputy general director worked alongside CEO Alexander Kochnev to use the now-defunct air carrier as a pyramid scheme moving foreign currency into their own accounts, it is said. But lawyers for Kalashikova claim…