Posted on 04/15/2008 11:29:39 AM PDT by lizol
Report: Russia's Putin is divorced and plans to marry ex-gymnast
Posted : Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:42:02 GMT Author : DPA
Moscow - A Russian tabloid broke taboo by reporting Russia's president Vladimir Putin had divorced his wife Lyudimilla and plans to wed 24-year-old former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva. The Kremlin Tuesday refused to comment on the article which was posted on the daily's Moskovsky Korrespondent website on Friday.
The article cited a source close to event planning firm Art-management in Putin's native St. Petersburg, saying the company was competing for the right to host the wedding.
Compared to most other world leaders, very little is known about the personal life of the 55-year-old ex-KGB agent, who succeeded Boris Yeltsin eight years ago practically unknown in the west.
Russian's First Lady, Lyudimilla, is rarely in the limelight and the couple's two daughters, Masha and Katya, live under pseudonyms and are closely guarded.
But the newspaper reported that Putin had divorced two months ago. It speculated that he was planning a June wedding, timed after he steps down as president in May.
Putin said Tuesday he would head Russia's dominant party and reaffirmed intentions to become prime minister after ceding office.
Visitors to the popular Russian website LiveJournal.ru called the report a belated April fools Tuesday.
Rhythmic gymnastic champion Kabayeva was elected to Russia's Duma last year as a delegate for Putin's favourite party, United Russia. Her coach Irina Viner is married billionaire metals and media tycoon Alisher Usmanov.
The curvaceous gymnast has been pictured semi-naked draped in furs, in shots that recall pictures sold this month of France's new First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
Nicholas Sarkozy's love affair with the former supermodel saw the culmination of a to debate in the conservative French press about where to draw the line writing about politicians private lives.
Russia itself seemed to experience a perestroika over the taboo subject last summer when bare-chested pictures of Putin fishing in Siberia caused a flurry of excitement.
Ping
Nice, minus the unibrow.....
I’m not really sure but I think my mind may have actually just boggled.
I look forward to the comments on this thread.
It’s good to be the King (Czar)!
I was just thinking that....I even have popcorn.
Not Guilty.
Now we know how Putin stays in shape.
I had no idead that Putin was such a horn dog.
24 years old? My word, he had better be eating his vitamins. She looks like she could kill him(if you know what I mean).
Pictures of the new Putin's girlfriend
LOL! Seems that the jokes just write themselves.
My Dad, ever the cynical one, told me the other night that he expects Putin to make a third-party run for President here. I asked him why he thought that, and he said “Because he seems to have qualities desired by the electorate.”
It’s apparently not the wrapper but the impressive capability of the machinery inside........
She looks pretty nice in the normal pictures. She looked a little goofy in the performance pictures, but she overloaded on the makeup to look "good" for the judges 50 feet away, not for a zoom lens camera shoved in her face.
Too funny!
JERRY: Kramer, are you still on this? I’ve seen gymnasts. I know what they do. It’s not going to make any difference.
KRAMER: Jerry, what is your problem?
JERRY: Kramer, y’know, guys like you, with no conscience, don’t know what it’s like for guys like me. I’m in the unfortunate position of having to consider people’s feelings.
KRAMER: All right, Jerry—are you familiar with the Kama Sutra?
JERRY: No.
KRAMER: Tantric yoga?
JERRY: No.
KRAMER: Jerry, you stand on the threshold to the magical world of sensual delights that most men dare not dream of!
JERRY: Boy, you can really talk some trash. (to George) I guess that’s better than eating it.
KRAMER: All right, all right, why don’t we just watch the tape? (starts playback)
JERRY: All right.
GEORGE: Did you pass your stone yet?
KRAMER: Not yet. But the suspense is killing me.
JERRY: (pointing at TV) Hey, that’s her!
KRAMER: “Oh yeah. Oh yeah, that’s her. (feminine grunts and sighs can be heard as they watch the tape) Look at the height, Jerry, the extension! Now watch the tuck. Handstand, half-turn, giant into a straddle, back into another handstand. Nice kip. Reverse hecht. Oh, nice leg extension, good form! Now, here comes the big dismount. Look at the rotation, full in, double back, and she sticks the landing! (gets up to leave as George and Jerry continue to watch, mouths agape) Perhaps you’d like to keep the tape? (silence) Well, I’ll take that as a yes.”
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