What Russia’s war is costing Vladimir Putin’s own family

The incredibly private life of Russian President Vladimir Putin is unravelling because of his decision to invade Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s private life is such a closely guarded secret that the Russian press knows not to ever ask about it.

The Russian President’s relationships, his family, his children and their whereabouts are all off-limits.

“I have a private life in which I do not permit interference,” Mr Putin previously announced.

“It must be respected.”

He put on notice “those who with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies prowl into others’ lives”.

But the prowling has not stopped. If anything, it has increased since the Russian leader gave orders to invade Ukraine almost four weeks ago in a campaign that has not gone to plan.

Sources close to the Kremlin are leaking information about Mr Putin’s family. And it is not good.

Reports suggest that as the war hits hard in Ukraine, the President and his family are feeling it deeply.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his ex-wife Ludmilla in 2006, eight years before their divorce. Picture: Getty Images

Putin’s eldest daughter, Dr Maria Vorontsova, 36, is presently going through a divorce. Picture: East2West news

News.com.au previously reported that Putin’s family has been forced into hiding in an underground city in Siberia since the war began.

We now also know that the marriage of his eldest daughter, Maria Vorontsova, has collapsed.

There are reports that his inner circle has shrunk to just a handful of advisers – including rhythmic gymnast turned media mogul Alina Kabaeva.

Ms Kabaeva, who performed at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, is believed to have given birth to four of Mr Putin’s children despite a nearly 30-year age gap. Mr Putin is 69. Ms Kabaeva is 38.

The pair reportedly formed a relationship after the Russian leader divorced Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Ocheretnaya in 2014.

Putin has two children with Lyudmila – Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova.

But so secretive is Mr Putin’s relationship with the former gymnast that their children have never been photographed and the President has never acknowledged their existence.

Russian gymnast Alina Kabayeva is believed to be raising four of Vladimir Putin’s secret children in hiding.

President Vladimir Putin and Olympic champion (rhythmic gymnastics) Alina Kabayeva during a meeting with athletes. Picture: Getty Images

Russian Professor Valery Solovey, a former head of the Public Relations Department at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, said Mr Putin has Alina and the family in a luxury hi-tech bunker in the Altai Mountains designed for protection in the event of nuclear war.

“At the weekend, President Putin’s family was evacuated to a special bunker prepared in case of nuclear war,” said the professor in a video released at the beginning of the month.

“This bunker is located in the [mountainous] Altai Republic.

“In fact, it is not a bunker, but a whole underground city, equipped with the latest science and technology.”

The reported moving of his family to the bunker came after a “failure” of Mr Putin’s strategic plan to conquer Ukraine, said Prof Solovey.

News of Mr Putin’s eldest daughter’s divorce complicates things further for the Russian leader and distracts from the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Maria Vorontsova, 36, was born when the Russian president was a KGB spy.

She is now a glamorous paediatric endocrinologist and an expert in genetic diseases in children.

Putin’s eldest daughter, Maria, was planning to launch a medical clinic for rich Westerners before the war started. That plan, along with her marriage, appears to be in tatters.

Mr Putin’s second daughter, Ekaterina Tikhonova. Picture: East2West news

As news.com.au reported on Tuesday, Dr Vorontsova and her Dutch husband Jorrit Faassen are splitting up. Her hopes of opening a “money-spinning elite medical centre” for rich foreigners in Russia is also under serious threat because of the war in Ukraine.

Exiled Russian investigative journalist Sergey Kanev said that Mr Putin “did a rotten job for his elder daughter” and her plans for the medical centre near St Petersburg when he triggered massive Western sanctions by going to war with Ukraine.

“She has a big share in the mega-project for the construction of a super modern medical centre near St Petersburg,” he said.

“The plans were to attract patients from Europe and rich sheiks from the Persian Gulf countries.

“And now, after the attack on Ukraine, what kind of Europeans and sheiks will come?”

Leonid Petrov, a Russian politics expert at the Australian National University, said the way Mr Putin is protecting his family has been ingrained in him.

“As a former KGB operative, he avoids risks and will protect his family and private life at any cost,” Dr Petrov told the ABC.

With his family in hiding, Mr Putin is struggling to the win a war he expected to be over by now.

US President Joe Biden said Mr Putin was considering using chemical and biological weapons as Ukraine’s forces reversed battlefield momentum and reclaimed some ground in recent days.

Russian troops were running out of supplies, and the military was beset by communication problems, even reduced to using mobile phones, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

– with AFP