The very secret love life of Vladimir Putin

He is the warlord, authoritarian and much-feared master of the Kremlin, indestructible since 1999. And on March 17, he was re-elected as the head of Russia, receiving 87.29% of the votes. But Vladimir Putin is not only that. Like everyone else, she has a love life punctuated by several stories. Some take longer than others. In detail, it is difficult to reveal the mystery of the romantic relationship of the 71-year-old Russian president today. We know almost nothing about his personal life. Or at least only what he allowed to filter through. Because Vladimir Putin believes that the personal blurs the political. A philosophy he takes from his past as a former KGB agent.

However, his marriage in 1983 with Lyudmila Chkrebneva is known. With this young flight attendant, whom he met a year ago, the intelligence agent has two close daughters: Maria, born in 1985, and Ekaterina, born the following year. But even when on December 31, 1999 he ascended to the highest office, President of the Russian Federation, Putin divided everything. No need for a first lady, his wife will remain in the shadows until their divorce in 2013.

“The only and rare occasion when Putin opened the doors of his personal life was in late 1999-early 2000, so that people could get to know him, because he wanted to be elected. He was still only an unknown secret agent,” analyzes Celine Noni, the company’s senior reporter. the team who was investigating Vladimir Putin’s love affairs. “But after all, in the first years of his ‘reign’, his wife traveled very little. Putin somehow wanted to make Russia bigger again by coming to power. And for that there was obviously no mention of his predecessors, Boris Yeltsin or Mikhail Gorbachev, the only Russian leaders to have exposed their wives.

Illegitimate children and mistresses

After the divorce, Vladimir Putin is officially single. But very quickly he was credited with the achievements, some of which lasted a long time. This is the case of an affair with a certain Svetlana Krivonogikh, whose name appeared in the Russian press in 2003. In the 1990s, she was still financing her studies in St. Petersburg while cleaning, when she struck up a relationship. in love with the future president, according to the Russian investigative website Project is a quote THE: world and was denied by the Kremlin. In 2001, barely a year after graduating and Putin’s arrival in the Kremlin, he suddenly found himself holding the equivalent of several million euros in shares in Rossiya Bank. But this is not all. the young woman also owns real estate in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Monaco, as well as a yacht and the Igor ski resort in Russia.

“There have always been rumors that Vladimir Putin has mistresses,” says Celine Noni. But in the case of Svetlana Krivonogikh, the fact that this student, who had to do homework to pay for her education, became a millionaire overnight, raises questions.” This fate raises even more questions because, according to the Pandora Papers, published in 2021, Svetlana Krivonogikh’s rich inheritance would have blossomed just weeks after the birth of her daughter Elizaveta, whose paternity is attributed to Putin. “His daughter’s surname is Vladimirovna (or “daughter of Vladimir” in Russian, editor’s note), which will clearly show the connection with Vladimir Putin, even if we can’t officially confirm it,” says Celine Noni. Today, this 21-year-old “illegal girl”, whose resemblance to Putin is obvious, has become a “fairly famous DJ” in Russia.

Kabaeva, favorite

But the female name most associated with Putin certainly remains Alina Kabaeva, the national pride and Olympic champion in GRS (rhythmic sports gymnastics). Back in 2008, it was rumored that the president was having an affair with a gymnast who was 31 years younger than him. Concerned people deny this. Remember that at that time Vladimir Putin was still married to Lyudmila Shkrebneva. But, presumably, their story is very real. Never confirmed, it would still be relevant today. “It is impossible to speak with certainty about this couple, because officially they do not exist,” comments Celine Noni, a former gymnast who met Alina Kabaeva several times in the 2000s and conducted an investigation on her. AlinaL:Putin’s secret love published in 2023 (1). “Because the Russian weekly started the conversation Correspondent of Moskovsky In 2008, a newspaper that closed its doors just after these revelations, no one else got a photo of the two together. However, this relationship has become an open secret in Russia. Everyone knows, but no one talks about it.”

If Vladimir Putin never formalized his relationship with Alina Kabaeva, then the clues do not lie. First, the former gifted child of the GRS made an unprecedented political rise, becoming a deputy in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, in 2007, even if his seat remained vacant. Another proof is the triplex in Sochi, which was offered to Anna Zatsepilina, Alina Kabaeva’s grandmother, by Yuri Kovalchuk, a friend of the Russian president, “because Putin never directly touches the wallet,” notes Celine Noni.

The Russian president also built a huge complex for the former sportswoman, near Lake Valdai, between Moscow and St. Petersburg, where she will spend a lot of time. Even more so, after the Ukrainian war, which prevents him from going to Switzerland, where he was before. “We could even see a playground for children with satellite images that Kabaeva would have with Putin. However, we still don’t know how many they have together,” explains Celine Noni. Alina Kabaeva would be especially valuable for Vladimir Putin. “None of his so-called mistresses were entitled to such favors. We are not sure about the topic, but it is said that Kabaeva will occupy a special place, because she gave Putin an heir, a son.”

So why not make it official? “To put Russia back on the map, Putin joined forces with the Orthodox Church. A woman 30 years younger than him living in luxury, having illegitimate children, does not fit into the frame,” explains Celine Noni.

Mizulina, the new lucky lady.

In February, the British and American tabloid press, citing Ukrainian media and independent Russian Telegram channels, nevertheless claimed that Vladimir Putin had a secret affair with Ekaterina Mizulina, the 39-year-old chief Internet censor of Russia (a year younger than Alina Kabaeva). According to the Kremlin’s Tabakerka Telegram channel, the Kremlin leader and this “guardian of morality” have “recently grown closer.” Reality or pure speculation? The mystery remains. However, “it is interesting to draw a parallel between Mizulina and Kabaeva, both of whom entered key campaign positions,” notes Celine Noni. Indeed, the first is leading the Russian League of Safe Internet. the second in turn is the director of the media group National Media Group (NMG), a TV holding, even if his only public appearances are always related to gymnastics.

“What is interesting,” adds the reporter The team, is that the appearance of these so-called mistresses in the landscape restores the image of Putin, who is regularly attributed with serious illnesses. Sometimes they say that he is on the verge of death, or even declared that he is dead.” Coincidentally or not, it was after the latest round of rumors surrounding his health that his alleged relationship with Mizulina was revealed. “Basically, in Putin’s symbolism, having a romantic relationship is the epitome of the alpha male. They said that one foot is in the grave. he’s finally proving he’s got some juice in him.”

(1) Alinaby Celine Noni, 256 pp., €19.90, Éditions Arthaud