Explained: Who is Vladimir Putin’s ‘girlfriend’? And what’s the petition against her?

Russian President Vladimir Putin with Alina Kabaeva during a ceremony in June 2001. The rumoured couple is said to have three children. AFP

With the war in Ukraine entering its third week, Russia and its president Vladimir Putin continue to be isolated. The anti-Putin is sentiment is widespread online and now a new petition on change.org is now hitting out at the autocrat’s alleged lover, 38-year-old Alina Kabaeva.

Who is Kabaeva? And what is the petition all about?

Alina Kabaeva is a former gymnast, an Olympic gold medallist who has been linked up with the 69-year-old president for years. He, however, has never acknowledged the relationship officially.

The petition, which has garnered more than 59,500 votes, has mostly citizens from Ukraine, Russia, and its ally Belarus, demanding that Switzerland expel Kabaeva amid reports that she has been holed up in a luxury chalet in the country since the Russian invasion of Ukraine started on 24 February.

Comparing Kabaeva to Hilter’s wife, the petition says, “It’s time you reunite Eva Braun with her Führer.”

“Despite the current war, Switzerland continues to host an accomplice of Putin’s regime,” it adds, as it lists Kabaeva’s many crimes. The petition is written in German, French, and English.

It accuses Putin’s “favourite wife” of being “supportive of social activities in Russia, she has been attempting to get Russian citizens accustomed to the reality of sanctions after 2014, and personally proclaimed: “The worse it gets, the better for us!”’

It further urges Switzerland to investigate the presence of Kabaeva in the country.

Even as the West continues to sanction Russia and those associated with Putin, Kabaeva has so far not faced any restrictions.

Where is Kabaeva hiding in Switzerland?

According to media reports, the former gymnast is currently staying in a luxurious chalet in near Lugano in Switzerland along with her children. She is believed to be the mother of Putin’s two sons and a daughter.

She travelled to a “very private and very secure” chalet as the war began, reports the Mirror UK. “While Russia falls apart because of the sanctions, this is the perfect place for Putin to send Alina and their kids,” a source in Lugano, close to the Italian border, told the tabloid.

Lugano is a quiet place and the streets are dotted with boutiques selling designer goods, banks, and plush restaurants.

How did the gymnast get linked with Putin?

Kabaeva is known as Russia’s “most flexible woman”. There are claims that Putin and she got married in a secret ceremony after he divorced his first wife Lyudmila. However, the Kremlin has always dismissed all the reports as rumours.

The former gymnast enjoys quite a few privileges in Russia. She spent six years as a member of parliament in Putin’s United Russia Party.

In September 2014, she quit the party to take charge of Russia’s National Media Group, which had a stake in Channel One, one of the state-controlled television channels, along with other newspapers. She headed the media holding for more than even years, where she earned an annual salary of £8 million, reports the British tabloid Daily Mail.

Investigation by Anti-Corruption Foundation, founded by Putin’s critic Alexei Navalny, revealed that many a Russian oligarchs have gifted Kabaeva’s family money, property, and other assets.

Kabaeva, of course, has achievements of her own to boast of. She won gold in the 2004 Olympics for rhythmic gymnastics and was also a flag-bearer during the opening ceremony of 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Putin’s “lover” lives in secrecy and her public appearances have reduced over the years. She was last seen in a video dancing a rhythmic gymnastics tournament in Moscow in December 2021.

There is very little known about Putin’s private life. In 2008, after the newspaper Moskovsky Korrespondent reported about the Russian leader’s divorce and plans to marry Kabaeva, it shut down. Denying the rumours, he then slammed journalists who questioned him for prying into his private affairs “with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies”.

With inputs from agencies

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