Putin admits he is ‘in love’ however refuses to disclose identify of his ‘first lady’
President Putin revealed in his year-end Q&A that he’s ‘in love’ but didn’t let on who’s captured his heart, sparking speculation given his complex love-life and passion for secrecy
Vladimir Putin reveals he’s ‘in love’
Vladimir Putin today admitted he’s “in love” in answer to an apparently planted question in his annual year-end Q&A. The warmonger was asked by the state media: “You said today that you believe love at first sight exists. Vladimir [Putin], are you in love?”
The divorced dictator – notorious for keeping his private life secret – told 360° presenter Regina Orekhova: “Yes. That answers the final part of your question.”
But he revealed nothing more. So it’s not yet clear if he was talking about his 18-year secret relationship with Russia‘s “most flexible woman”, Alina Kabaeva, 42, an Olympic gold-medal winning rhythmic gymnast.
The couple share two children who live under pseudonyms – Ivan Spirodonov, ten, and brother Vladimir Spirodonov, six. They are believed to live with him in his hidden palaces in numerous locations around Russia. Yet he never speaks about them.
One theory is that Putin, 73, is aiming to come out and admit to his relationship and secret family after years of hiding them from Russia’s 145 million people.
Another is that the hard-faced despot simply wanted to soften his image among his people by admitting that he is capable of showing love.
Yet Putin reportedly cheated on Kabaeva with an beauty pageant contestant who posed for a racy calendar marking his birthday.
Alisa Kharcheva was seduced by Putin, it is alleged in revelations this year by Russian investigative journalists. She allegedly visited him every two weeks.
“The girl visited the [then] prime minister regularly — these visits naturally coincided with the departures from the residence of Alina Kabaeva, who by then was already Putin’s main partner,” according to the media outlet Proekt.
“His formal wife, Lyudmila, was no longer living with the prime minister.”
Later, in 2014, he and Lyudmila divorced. They had two children together, Maria, now 40, and Katerinia, 39.
Putin also had a long affair with Svetlana Krivonogikh, now 50, a banker and striptease club owner. This led to the birth of Putin’s love child Luiza, 22 – real name Elizaveta Krivonogikh, who he never speaks about.
She now lives in Paris and recently told a Ukrainian journalist whose brother was killed by a Putin strike: “I’m really sorry that this is happening. Unfortunately, I’m not responsible for this situation. I’m glad you had the courage to come up to me and talk, but unfortunately….”
A book recently told how Putin publicly espouses traditional marriages but for himself prefers “free” relationships, sleeping with “a multitude of women”.
Putin once said: “I have a private life in which I do not permit interference. It must be respected.”
He deplored “those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others’ lives”.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
