Putin's ex-gymnast 'girlfriend' vanishes after rumors that she had twin boys with Russian president
A former gymnast who was linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin for years and allegedly had twins with him has reportedly vanished from the public eye. 37-year-old Alina Kabaeva, an Olympic gold medalist, was reportedly two months pregnant when she was last seen in 2018. Kabaeva is said to have given birth to twin boys last April in Moscow, The Sun reported.
However, there are growing concerns that Kabaeva, a former MP in Putin's United Russia party, has disappeared. Talk of the duo's romance with a divorced Putin, 68, first surfaced in 2008. She has since become the boss of National Media Group, which recently grabbed headlines after securing an exclusive contract to stream Netflix content.
“Putin is an intensely private man — he has been hiding his two adult daughters under fake IDs for years," a Moscow source reportedly told The Sun. “Even now, though he talks about them occasionally, he never names them. If Alina gave birth to his children, her hiding away might be one of the strongest hints pointing to this. He is obsessive about the security of his family.”
MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) previously reported how Putin had two daughters with former wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva, an ex-air hostess who he was married to for three decades before they divorced in 2013. According to Business Insider, Putin's daughters are named Maria and Katerina. The former was born in Leningrad in 1985, while the latter was born in Germany in 1986 when the future Russian president worked for the KGB.
The report further revealed that both girls are named after their grandmothers and that Maria's nickname is Masha while Katerina's is Katya. The girls reportedly attended a German-language school when the family moved to Moscow in 1996. However, they were removed from school and taught at home by dedicated educators once Putin became acting president.
"Not all fathers are as loving with their children as he is," Lyudmila is quoted as saying on Putin's government website. "And he has always spoiled them, while I was the one who had to discipline them." It was also revealed that Maria took up biology in college and proceeded to go to medical school in Moscow. Katerina, meanwhile, majored in Asian Studies. Both studied in the university under false identities.
Having said that, it was also rumored that Putin has a third daughter with Kabaeva. However, neither the child nor the relationship has been officially confirmed. Kabaeva has been linked with the Russian leader for more than a decade and speculation is rife that the pair already has a secret family — although such claims have been denied by the Kremlin outright.
For years, Kabaeva has not been linked to any other suitor despite being seen as one of Russia's most eligible women. It was Russian tabloid Moscow Korrespondent, owned by Putin's former KGB colleague Alexander Lebedev, that first revealed their alleged relationship. After resigning as a pro-Putin MP in the Russian parliament, Kabaeva became the head of the staunchly pro-Kremlin National Media Group in September 2014.
According to reports, the group is known to control or hold key stakes in several newspapers and TV channels. Historically, the president is known to become tetchy when asked about his love life, and the subject is almost seen as taboo in Russia.