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This the kind of question Mrs Merton might ask. "So, Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, what do you see in a 24-year-old, sensationally beautiful gymnast with a penchant for posing semi-naked that you don't see in your lovely, middle-aged, matronly wife Ludmilla?" It is also the kind of question that hardly needs answering for the millions who have tuned in to the YouTube film of Alina Kabaeva performing a decidedly provocative gymnastic routine.

President Vladimir Putin has two young sons with former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, both of which have been living in secret since their births, according to a report by a Russian investigative group started by a former billionaire Putin foe, though Putin and Kabaeva have denied romantic ties for more than a decade. Putin and Kabaeva share two sons, Ivan Putin and Vladimir Putin Jr., who were born in 2015 and 2019, respectively, according to the Dossier Center, a Russian investigative news organization that cited unnamed sources who claimed to regularly see the children. Putin, 71, has publicly acknowledged having...

Vladimir Putin's lover snapped with impatience at a weeping young gymnastics star in the same week she was revealed to have two young sons with the Kremlin dictator. -snip- But extraordinary footage from this week shows Kabaeva - an Olympic gold-medal winning rhythmic gymnast - berating talented Karolina Tarasova during a training session in Sochi, reducing the teenager to tears. The girl, from Putin-occupied Donetsk in Ukraine, is a student at Kabaeva's elite gymnastics Sky Grace Academy in Sochi, which released the videos of the grumpy secret Kremlin first lady, who appears to be wearing a wedding ring, possibly suggesting...

Vladimir Putin’s “mistress” has saluted his war propagandists who regularly threaten nuclear war as being as important as Kalashnikov machine guns. Russians are engaged in a “fight for our country” almost a year after his disastrous invasion of Ukraine, warned Alina Kabaeva, 39. An Olympic gold-winning rhythmic gymnast who is believed to share a secret family with the dictator, 70, she normally shuns the limelight. But wearing what appeared to be a wedding ring plus a prominent Z-badge, symbol of Russia’s bloody war, she spoke at a Moscow event marking the founding of strongly pro-Putin National Media Group [NMG], which...

Vladimir Putin's car was 'attacked' in what may have been an assassination attempt amid the Ukraine war, according to an unconfirmed claim. His limousine was hit by a 'loud bang' on its 'left front wheel followed by heavy smoke', it is alleged. The car drove to safety with Putin unharmed but there have been multiple arrests from his security service - while other bodyguards have vanished - amid claims that secret information about the 69-year-old ruler's movements was compromised, says General SVR Telegram channel. General SVR is a Russian Telegram channel which regularly posts alleged insider information about Putin and...

A Russian Olympic gymnast widely believed to be the mistress of Russian President Vladimir Putin has emerged to lead a patriotic rhythmic gymnastics festival in Moscow. Alina Kabaeva, 38, stepped out to lead her annual 'Alina Festival' at the Russian capital's VTB Arena and delivered a speech to the press in which she appeared to link the Soviet victory over Nazism in the Second World War to today's events in Ukraine. It marked a rare public appearance for the former gymnast, who is thought to be the Russian strongman's mistress and mother of four of his children whom he has...

It’s official, the Moscow newspaper reporting rumours that President Vladimir Putin had secretly divorced and was planning to marry 24-year-old rhythmic gymnast, Alina Kabaeva, has suddenly ceased publication....

It was the story with everything – sex, power, spies and the extraordinary claim that President Putin intended to marry a beautiful Olympic gymnast half his age. So alluring was the idea of romance between Mr Putin and Alina Kabaeva that publications all over Europe rushed to reprint a little-known Moscow newspaper’s report that the former KGB officer had divorced his wife Lyudmila secretly and would marry his lover on June 15. Yesterday, however, Moscow Korrespondent admitted that the story had “no factual basis” after Aleksandr Lebedev, the billionaire owner of the newspaper, challenged staff to back up the claims...

The Russian tabloid "Moskovsky korrespondent" alleges that the outgoing president secretly divorced his wife, Lyudmilla, over two months ago and will wed Kabayeva on June 15, the day Russia celebrates the Holy Trinity this year. "His close entourage knows well that Putin, like all healthy men, is not indifferent to beautiful, sporty women," the tabloid wrote.The rumors have been the talk of Russia since their publication earlier this month. Putin's alleged affair with the attractive young gymnast, who has posed nearly nude for a number of magazines, certainly clashes with the churchgoing, family man image that he has carefully cultivated.The...

A Russian website alleged that Alina - seen here in one of her more provocative poses - was seen kissing Putin in a Moscow restaurant Alina Kabaeva, is one of a number of young and beautiful Russian dancers and athletes who, under Mr Putin's patronage, have lately become deputies in the Duma - Russia's lower parliament. Known as Putinskie Krasotki - 'Putin's Babes' - they were brought in with the cynical but successful aim of 'sexing up' his United Russia party. The bloc took more than 60 per cent of the vote in the December elections. One Russian spin-doctor boasted...