Glamorous Russian TV presenter strip searched at U.S. airport after 'explosives' wrongly traced on her fingers

Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian TV presenter-turned-political activist, was strip searched in Miami

The 'explosives' on her body turned out to be traces of massage oil

Her father was a well-known and beloved mayor of St Petersburg

Putin was a close friend of her father's but she has become critical of him in recent years and protested against alleged election fraud



A glamorous Russian TV presenter with links to Vladimir Putin has told how she was forced to strip naked at Miami Airport after a security check wrongly indicated traces of explosives on her fingers.

Ksenia Sobchak, 32, claimed that the alert came soon after she had a jojoba oil massage prior to boarding her flight.

The ingredients of the massage oil triggered the security equipment, and she was told this happens two or three times a day at the airport, she said.

Problem solved: TV host and political activist Ksenia Sobchak, pictured here in her Moscow apartment, was strip searched in a Miami airport because they believed she had traces of explosives on her

Close: Vladimir Putin, then-President of Russia, attended Ms Sobchak's (right) father's funeral in 2000 as he was a well-known mayor who helped transform Soviet-era Leningrad into democratic St. Petersburg

'At the departure security check at Miami, explosives were detected on my fingers. It was the first time that I was searched naked,' tweeted the television anchor who is also sometimes called 'Russia's Paris Hilton'.

After the strip search, she was allowed to proceed to her flight to Moscow.

'I had a jojoba oil massage - and there was glycerin, mixed with something else. This got their equipment activated. They said they get two or three cases like mine each day.'

Sobchak, who has known Kremlin leader Putin since she was a child, said: 'It was a gruelling check.'

She told her 783,000 Twitter followers: 'I was warned several times by a big black woman that she will be touching sensitive areas only in gloves and with the reverse side of the hand.

Using her fame: While sometimes called Russia's Paris Hilton, Sobchak is also a well-known member of the country's opposition party and is considered to have 'protected' status because of Putins affection for her family

Strip searched: Sochak said that the so-called explosives were actually traces of massage oil

'And if I saw this as a sexual action then I should let them know right away. I was lost for words.

'So the sensitive areas were checked with the back side of the hand only.

'Thank God there was no internal check.

'But this is what it means to have a jojoba oil massage right before departure.'

She added: 'Alas my friends this time there won't be a proof shot.'

Prominent: Ms Sobchak, seen right with her mother Lyudmila Narusova and current President Dmitry Medvedev at a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of her father's death, has over 780,000 Twitter followers

Politically active: Sobchak (right) posted a photo of herself posing with two of the members of the controversial band Pussy Riot

Sobchak, whose late father Anatoly Sobchak gave Putin his break in politics, graduated from being a celebrity socialite and Moscow 'It girl' to a prominent television personality who has joined protests against Putin.

Her father was mayor of St Petersburg and employed Putin - his former law student - when the strongman returned from his stint as a KGB spy in East Germany.

Putin is said to have helped her father flee abroad when he was wanted on corruption charges.