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Countess Alexandra Tolstoy has vowed to learn how to drive after enduring hours on public transport around London, as she rebuilds her live a year after being 'evicted' from the £12M mansion owned by her Russian billionaire ex.

The aristocratic beauty, 47, the daughter of Count Nikolai Tolstoy and ex-partner of Russian billionaire Sergei Pugachev, 58, took to social media to share a weary photo on a packed train.

Last May she told how she was evicted from her London home, after her ex lost ownership in 2018 when Moscow judges ruled that it belonged to creditors in the Russian capital.  

In 2020 she decided to auction off her furniture with Christies and rented a home in Battersea, south west London, where she launched interiors business, The Tolstoy Edit this year. 

Countess Alexandra Tolstoy has vowed to learn how to drive after enduring hours on public transport around London, as she rebuilds her live a year after being 'evicted' from the £12M mansion owned by her Russian billionaire ex

The aristocratic beauty, 47,is the daughter of Count Nikolai Tolstoy and ex-partner of Russian billionaire Sergei Pugachev, 58, seen

Taking to her Instagram account, Alexandra - whose extravagant lifestyle saw her taking jets and chauffeur-driven cars - was seen playing hangman with her daughter.

She wrote: 'One day I really will learn to drive', adding a fed-up emoji face.

Before the split, the family owned a £12million Battersea home, a 200-acre country estate, and a £40million beachfront villa in St Barts - as well as a private jet.

But Alexandra looked to be bouncing back from the change in lifestyle, and in September Alexandra took to Instagram to give a glimpse into the newly renovated house she had moved into with her family a year ago. 

In September Alexandra took to Instagram to give a glimpse into the newly renovated house she had moved into with her family a year ago (seen in her countryside home)

Alexandra  says the family were evicted from Pugachev's £12million west London family mansion in May 2020 after reportedly being given just two weeks notice by the Russian government, who had repossessed the property (pictured) 

She wrote: 'This time a year ago I was desperately trying to secure a rental house - we were staying temporarily in someone else’s home for the month of September as we had had our house taken from us by the Russian government in mid-July…a long story that is fortunately now far behind us.

'With only a week or to spare - we were rejected by the owners of the only other two suitable houses - I finally found somewhere. As often seems inevitable in life, it turned out to be a hundred times better than the houses we had failed to get, and all the anxiety had been for nothing!

'Although it was in the perfect location for walking/scooting to my children’s schools and was the perfect size, it was in a terrible state. I persuaded the owners to do it up and we shared the renovations - in all of ten days we totally repainted the house as well as ripping out and replacing the bathroom floors and the entire kitchen.'

The aristocrat shares children Aliosha, Ivan and Maria with financier Sergei Pugachev, who was once dubbed 'the Kremlin’s banker' and was close to Vladimir Putin before falling into disfavour. He is now seen as a 'traitor' by the Russian president. 

The couple met in 2008 after Sergei hired Alexandra to help improve his English while they were both living in Russia, where Sergei was once-close friends with Putin.

The couple met in 2008 after Sergei hired Alexandra to help improve his English while they were both living in Russia, where Sergei was once-close friends with Putin

Speaking of their relationship in a documentary that aired last year, Alexandra said: 'When I met Sergei it was electric. It was amazing.

'I fell so in love with him. I've never felt such a connection to someone ever.'

Within a year of meeting, they had a baby and another on the way, and were living a life of luxury in London, Moscow and Paris.

Alexandra said: 'It was incredible, he would give me his credit card and I would go shopping, I had a private jet. I just had to pack my suitcase and I could go.'

The family moved between an array of properties including a £12million family home in Battersea, a 200-acre country estate in Hertfordshire, and a £40million beachfront villa in St Barts.

After arriving in the UK in 2011, he was accused of siphoning a fortune out of his finance house Mezhprombank. State creditors in Moscow pursued him in the British courts, claiming he embezzled hundreds of millions. 

The oligarch fled to France, where he remains, and was sentenced to two years in his absence by a High Court judge in 2016 for breaching court orders relating to hundreds of millions in allegedly stolen cash. 

Writing for the Telegraph, Alexandra accused her former husband of trying to 'cajole and then force' her into travelling to France with him, but said that 'after years of living in fear' she knew remaining in London with her family was the best decision. 

 Last year Countess Alexandra Tolstoy revealed how she and her children lived 'out of bags while camping with kind friends]' for months after being 'evicted' from the £12M mansion owned by her Russian billionaire ex.

Alexandra, whose title descends from her father's great-grandfather, Pavel Tolstoy-Miloslavsky, who was titled a Count for his services as the chamberlain to the last emperor, Nicolas II of Russia, was left caring for her three children alone.

 The family were evicted from Pugachev's £12million west London family mansion in May 2020 after reportedly being given just two weeks notice by the Russian government, who had repossessed the property. 

The mum admitted she felt 'hopeless' and was reduced to tears, spending the summer living out of suitcases with friends and with her parents in their country home in Oxfordshire - where she spent lockdown in February. 

Eventually she decided to auction off her furniture with Christies and rented a home in Battersea, south west London, where she launched interiors business, The Tolstoy Edit. 

WHO IS SERGEI  PUGACHEV? 

Sergei Pugachev once owned two major shipyards, the world's biggest mine and large chunks of real estate in Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as the Mezhprombank, which he co-founded in the 1990s.

He enjoyed a close relationship with Vladimir Putin, and in 2008 when Sergei's bank hit problems, the Russian state bailed it out with $1 billion loan.

Sergei amassed enormous wealth from his companies, and lived a lavish lifestyle before becoming an enemy of the Russian state 

Sergei, who left Russia in 2011, claims that relations between him and Putin cooled, due to his relationship with the Russian leader calling him a 'traitor' for dating 'English woman' Alexandra, the Kremlin tried to seize or destroy his business empire.  

The Russians then accused him of profiting from vast sums of taxpayers' money given to Mezhprombank by the Russian central bank at the height of the 2008 economic crisis. 

It has since been pursuing Sergei Pugachev through the High Court claiming he illegally siphoned hundreds of millions of pounds from the government bailout of the Mezhprombank.

Authorities froze his assets, put him on Interpol's wanted list and obtained a court order in Britain forcing him to hand over his passports.

By 2015, he was dividing his time between France and the family home in London and reputed to be number 3 on Kremlin's hitlist.

Mr Pugachev denies the allegations and claims Moscow is trying to steal £11billion of his assets, including two shipyards and the world's largest mine. 

He has previously been declared to be in contempt of court, with a two-year prison sentence left hanging over his head should he return to this country.

He had been living in France for the past five years after being ordered to give up his passports in 2014. 

In Nice, he was visited by the DIA who demanded repayment of the billion dollar loan and threatened his family, saying they could 'cut off his son's finger and send it back to him.' 

He also claims 'credible attempts' had been made on his life in the UK. 

The tycoon is in another legal battle with Russia in The Hague where he is suing the Federation for £11billion.

He claims he is being targeted because of his knowledge of state secrets.

Sergei said he enjoyed a 'very close' friendship with Russian president Vladimir Putin before falling out, with the politician calling Sergei 'a traitor' for dating an 'English woman'

 

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