Alina Kabaeva and Vladimir Putin: Obstetrician confirms pair have two secret sons
It’s been long-rumoured that former gymnast Alina Kabaeva is the Russian President’s girlfriend. Now a report appears to confirm their two secret sons.
Vladimir Putin has two secret sons with his girlfriend, former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, according to a new report.
The first boy was born in secret in Switzerland amid huge security in 2015, according to a source linked to the obstetrician who was at the birth.
The second son was delivered in Moscow in 2019 with the same specialist flying to Russia for the birth, according to Swiss newspaper Sonntagszeitung.
Rumours abound over secret relationship
The Russian leader, who will be 70 this year, has been denying a relationship with Olympic gold-medal winning Kabaeva, 38, since 2007.
He has hidden his alleged secret family from voters and was not present at either of the boys’ births.
The report confirms strong rumours over a Putin-Kabaeva family, except in suggesting there was one son born in 2019 rather than the rumour that it was twins.
It also indicates that Kabaeva is the secret first lady of Russia.
It comes as the nation is suffering major losses from its invasion of Ukraine.
The source of the new report – published Sunday – is said to be a personal friend of Kabaeva who also knows the obstetrician, an unnamed Soviet-born medic who has been acquainted with Mr Putin for more than three decades and a long-time Swiss citizen after emigrating from Russia.
The paper reported: “Our source says clearly: ‘Alina’s relationship with Putin existed. Their children – two sons – are Putin’s children. Alina had no other relationship. That would have been too dangerous for her.’”
The female doctor works at Clinica Sant’ Anna in the Italian-speaking Ticino region of Switzerland where the first child was born.
The obstetrician had “maintained a trusting relationship with Putin”, the report said.
“You had to keep the whole thing very discreet,” the source told the newspaper.
Contrary to gossip in 2015, it appears Mr Putin was not present at the birth which – at the time – the Kremlin denied.
There was also only one Putin-Kabaeva child born in Switzerland, said the source.
By the “President’s decision”, the second son was born in Moscow.
The same Russian expat Swiss obstetrician delivered the second son in Moscow in 2019.
Before the birth, Kabaeva had travelled in secret to Lugano several times.
The source described Kabaeva as “a very pleasant woman”.
“She is a real sportswoman, very straight, without posturing.
“She came with her mother and sister, but without bodyguards.”
Despite this, a blanket of secrecy was thrown over the births.
Relationship rumoured to have started in 2007
Kabaeva had also travelled multiple times to Switzerland before her relationship with Mr Putin, which is believed to have started in 2007.
She was an ambassador for Longines watches from 1999 to 2008.
Recently it was suggested that she and her rumoured children were at a reclusive Swiss chalet while the war with Ukraine continued.
However 10 days ago – after a four-month absence from the limelight – she reappeared in Moscow.
There are indications she has spent time near Geneva at the residence of Gennady Timchenko, 69, an oligarch very close to Mr Putin.
Mr Timchenko’s representatives refused to comment to the Swiss newspaper.
But Swiss government representatives say there is no indication Kabaeva has been in the country recently.
A video shows Kabaeva in May 2015 – which at the time sparked rumours of pregnancy – at her annual gymnastics show for children called ‘Alina 2015’.
At the time she said: “The children performed brilliantly.”
Russian leader’s ‘official’ children
Mr Putin has two officially acknowledged children – Maria, 37, and Katerina, 35, both from first wife Lyudmila Ocheretnaya.
Dr Maria Vorontsova, a year younger than Kabaeva, was born when the Russian president was a KGB spy in Germany.
She is an expert in rare genetic diseases in children and works as a lead researcher at the National Medical Research Centre for Endocrinology of the Ministry of Health of Russia.
Meanwhile Katerina is deputy director of the Institute for Mathematical Research of Complex Systems at Moscow State University.
She is a former high-kicking ‘rock’n’roll’ dancer.
Both daughters have been sanctioned by the West – unlike Kabaeva, and Mr Putin’s unacknowledged “love child” Luiza Rozova, 19.
Luiza is the daughter of cleaner-turned-multi-millionaire Svetlana Krivonogikh, 45, now part-owner of a major Russian bank, one of the country’s wealthiest women with an estimated $130 million financial and property fortune.
Many Russians saw Kabaeva as the reason for the break-up of Putin’s marriage to former air stewardess Lyudmila, 63, in 2014.
Mr Putin previously said: “I have a private life in which I do not permit interference. It must be respected.”
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko previously hinted that Mr Putin’s divorce came about because Kabaeva “put pressure on the President”.
Meanwhile, Kabaeva is on record as saying she had met a man who “I love very much”, gushing: “Sometimes you feel so happy that you even feel scared.”
First public appearance since invasion
Kabaeva used the build-up to last weekend’s ‘Alina 2022’ show in Moscow to make her first appearance in public since the war started in Ukraine.
This followed rumours she had been hiding in Switzerland – or in a nuclear bunker in the Russian state of Siberia.
At the show itself, she was filmed in front of the ‘Z’ symbols of Putin’s troops, which critics have likened to a swastika symbol.
She wore a $3400 dress from a British-based designer as she led a patriotic-themed gymnastics ballet which appeared to liken the Russian fight against Ukraine to the defeat of Hitler’s Nazis.
The event included some of the Soviet Union’s most patriotic songs in a celebration of the country’s victory over the Germans.
The theme at her annual festival was unmistakably intended to boost patriotic support for Mr Putin’s military adventure in Ukraine.
She was seen wearing a wedding ring at the event. She was dressed in a silk fuchsia midi dress from the new collection of London-based Alessandra Rich who has previously supplied Samantha Cameron, wife of UK prime minister David Cameron – for a state occasion with former US president Barack Obama – and a host of A-listers.
Russians were struck by Kabaeva’s new look last weekend, sparking rumours of recent cosmetic surgery.
Russian Cosmopolitan said: “Something has really changed in Kabaeva’s face.” It added: “The legendary athlete was noticeably prettier.”
Avoiding linking her to Mr Putin, it said of a woman widely believed to be Russia’s unofficial first lady: “Alina Kabaeva is one of the most mysterious and secretive women in our country.
“The gymnast almost never appears in public, does not [appear in] social networks, and it is not possible to accidentally see her on the street or in shopping centres.”
Telegram channel Tol’ko Nikomu – also choosing its words carefully to avoid the Russian censor – hinted that she and Mr Putin share the same plastic surgeon.
“A new rare appearance of Alina Kabaeva. This time she is dressed casually – and is again seen with a wedding ring.
“And yes, the handwriting of the family beautician is quite notable.”
Navalny demands sanctions against Kabaeva
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is currently in prison in the country after what was widely seen as a “sham” trial for fraud, has demanded sanctions against the former gymnast.
He singled out Kabaeva’s National Media Group, arguing that it was in all likelihood owned by Mr Putin.
Her salary here has been estimated at almost $14.2 million a year, compared with the average annual Russian salary of $9960.
Mr Navalny posted from jail: “I want to remind you that the National Media Group, which owns the lion’s share of this apparatus of lies, undoubtedly belongs to Putin personally, and as such is even formally headed by Putin’s mistress Alina Kabaeva.”
He called for her as a Putin propagandist to be treated as a “war criminal”.
Kabaeva has kept a low profile throughout the Ukraine war – but her media company has been vocal in cheerleading for the Russian President.
Soon after the war started, a petition called on the Swiss authorities to send Kabaeva back to Russia.
“It’s time you reunite Eva Braun with her Führer,” said the petition.
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