Putin's lover Alina Kabaeva and children rumored to be hiding in Switzerland
Alina Kabaeva, Vladimir Putin's lover, is said to be hiding in Switzerland with their four small children. Ms. Kabaeva, an Olympic gold medalist gymnast, is said to have four children with Russian President Vladimir Putin, 69, but the two have never officially confirmed it. According to sources, they have 7-year-old twin daughters who were born in February 2015 near Lugano, Switzerland. They are also thought to have two other sons.
"While Putin carries out his assault on Ukraine, attacking innocent citizens and causing a refugee crisis, his family is holed up in a very private and very secure chalet somewhere in Switzerland – for now, at least," a source told the New York Post.
READ MORE
About Mr. Putin's purported children with Kabaeva, 38, a source informed Page Six, "Alina has two young boys and twin girls with Putin who were born in Switzerland. The kids all have Swiss passports, and I imagine she does also."
Mr. Putin is well-known for his aversion to questions about his personal life. "I have a private life in which I do not permit interference." He once observed, "I have always reacted negatively to those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others' lives."
Mr. Putin also has two adult daughters from his first marriage to former flight attendant Lyudmila Shkrebneva - Maria, 36, and Katerina, 35. However, the Russian President has battled hard to keep his children out of the media and spotlight. He rarely mentions them in public, leading to speculation about how many children he has.
Mr. Putin and Ms. Shkrebneva were married for three decades until divorcing in 2013. Maria was born in Leningrad in 1985, and Katerina was born in Germany in 1986, when the family lived there during Mr. Putin's KGB days.
Ms. Kabaeva holds two Olympic medals, 14 World Championship medals, and 21 European Championship medals, making her one of the most decorated rhythmic gymnasts in history. She was dubbed "Russia's most flexible woman" and even posed naked for a men's magazine while wrapped in animal fur.
In 2008, the Moskovsky Korrespondent, a Russian newspaper, reported that Mr. Putin had divorced his wife and was about to marry Ms. Kabaeva. The Kremlin refuted the story, and the newspaper was shut down. However, there has been ongoing conjecture about Mr. Putin's relationship with the former gymnast, with rumors that they have multiple children together. According to sources, the couple may have married in a private Russian Orthodox ceremony.
Ms. Kabaeva later became a pro-Kremlin member of parliament for eight years before being selected by the Kremlin to lead the state-owned National Media Group in 2014, drawing an estimated annual salary of $10 million. Despite her high-profile career, she has been largely absent from the public eye in recent years.
In July 2013, Ms. Kabaeva denied having any children, despite claims that she had given birth to a daughter at the prestigious Saint Ann hospital in Ticino, Switzerland. To add to the uncertainty, she is said to have given birth to twin sons in Moscow's Kulakov maternity clinic in 2019.
Mr. Putin may have underestimated Switzerland in his purported decision to hide his family there. Many in the international world were taken aback by Switzerland's decision to abandon neutrality and take a firm stance against Russia.
On February 28, the Swiss Federal Council announced the freezing of assets of a number of Russian individuals and companies, noting that "financial sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are also to be implemented with immediate effect." Given that Mr. Putin's children and Ms. Kabaeva all supposedly hold Swiss passports and his assets are properly disguised, it's unclear how these penalties will affect them.
While Mr. Putin has kept quiet about his children, his ex-wife has praised him as a kind and caring father on the Russian president's official website. Ms. Shkrebneva's statement on the site states, "Not all fathers are as loving with their children as he is." "And he has always spoiled them, while I was the one who had to discipline them." Mr. Putin's first wife and daughters have been hiding in an "underground city" in Siberia, according to reports.
According to political scientist Valery Solovey, who has previously been notorious for spreading conspiracy theories, the luxury hi-tech bunker is located in the Altai Mountains and was constructed for safety in the event of a nuclear war. Multiple ventilation points have been discovered in the grounds around the mountain hideaway, as well as a high-voltage connection connected to an ultra-modern 110 kilovolt substation capable of powering a sizable metropolis.