Thread by @thetimes

The Kremlin likes to portray President Putin as living a near monastic lifestyle, with almost no time for a personal life, while the Russian leader has described himself as labouring like a “galley slave” for the good of the country 🇷🇺
thetimes.co.uk/article/marria…

“Frankly, I would find it difficult to answer a question about his personal life. He works so much,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, once said.

Yet Putin, 69, is no monk

The ex-KGB officer is reported to have had at least two affairs during his 30-year marriage to Lyudmila, a former Aeroflot air hostess whom he divorced in 2014.

Both are said to have begun after Putin came to power 22 years ago

In 2020 journalists at the Proekt website alleged that Svetlana Krivonogikh, a former part-time shop cleaner, had given birth to Putin’s illegitimate daughter.

Krivonogikh, mysteriously went from living in a shared flat to ownership of a luxury ski resort and stake in a bank

It was revealed last year that she also owns elite property in Monaco.

Proekt has since been outlawed by the Kremlin as an “undesirable organisation” and anyone working for it faces up to six years in prison

Krivonogikh’s daughter, Elizaveta, who goes by the name of Luiza Rozova on social media, bears a striking resemblance to Putin.

No father is listed for Rozova on her birth certificate but her middle name, is “Vladimirovna”, which means “daughter of Vladimir”

Putin is thought to have had a more long-lasting relationship with Alina Kabaeva, an Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast who is known as Russia’s “secret first lady”

In 2007 Kabaeva became an MP with the ruling United Russia party, as the Kremlin tried to add some celebrity glitter to Putin’s parliament.

Seven years later she quit politics and was named head of the country’s national media group, with a salary the equivalent of £7.7m

Kabaeva, once described as “the most supple woman in Russia”, is said to have had four children with Putin.

In 2019 she was reported to have given birth to twins, after which she was not seen in public for two years
thetimes.co.uk/article/kremli…

The president is fiercely protective of his private life.

In 2008 a newspaper that reported that he had secretly divorced Lyudmila and was planning to marry Kabaeva was closed down within hours of Putin lashing out at journalists with “snotty noses and erotic fantasies”

Putin and Lyudmila have two adult daughters, Maria, 35, and Katerina, 36.

While their identities are an open secret in Russia, the Kremlin has never acknowledged that they are related to the president, citing security concerns

Kabaeva, who is believed to be living in Switzerland with her children, has defended Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

A petition to have her deported from 🇨🇭 has made the rounds. It describes her as “the wife of a delusional dictator” and compares her to Eva Braun – Hitler’s lover

In 2008, while he was still married to Lyudmila, Putin acknowledged that he was often linked to “beautiful young women and girls”.

🗣️ He added: “I don’t think it will be a surprise if I say that I like them all — because they are all Russian women”

Read the full story 👇
thetimes.co.uk/article/marria…